Begotten
by Jadelyn Tate
Summary: A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues. ON HOLD
1. CH 1: Brother and Sister

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ sister is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** RJ gets a most unexpected, but not unwelcome, visitor…

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **I blame this one entirely on Tara. Seriously. I do.

* * *

Jungle Karma Pizza was at the end of its lunch rush when she came in. At first, Casey just saw her as yet another customer he had to serve. As he approached the corner table she had sat herself down at, however, he could feel the Tiger within him stirring in curiosity. While it was similar to the way he had felt when he'd met Master Phant, Swoop, and Finn, it was not the same.

"Hi, welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza, I'm Casey and I will be serving you today," he told her with a smile. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Yeah, a strawberry smoothie," she requested without looking at the drinks section. Casey nodded, a bit baffled as she continued to peruse the menu absently.

"Right, so I'll just go…get that," he told her and went over to his teammates. Lily saw his expression and frowned.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, concerned. Theo glanced over and Casey shrugged.

"Yeah, just…something's off with my customer. It's almost like she's a Master but…not," he tried explaining and his teammates exchanged looks before turning in the direction of the woman. Casey let them study her and went back to grab the smoothie. When he came back, Lily and Theo looked as confused as he felt.

"I feel it too," the yellow ranger told him and Theo nodded his agreement, looking worried. The red ranger knew they were all thinking about the incident with Camille.

"So what can I get you to eat?" he asked once he'd set the smoothie down. He pulled out his order pad and waited.

"A personal size Banana Surprise, please," she ordered and Casey nodded. He wrote it down, took the menu from her, and left. He gave the order to Fran who was working in the back with RJ, and then turned to study her some more.

She was sitting at a booth in the corner, staring down at six carved figures in bemusement. Ever since they had arrived, RJ had been obsessive about the six figures staying together so whenever their master got into a rearrangement mood, they were always moved as one. He moved forward.

"Cool, huh?" Casey asked when he was by her. She looked up, her doe brown eyes curious. He smiled.

"RJ carved them, apparently. He never lets those six get separated," he told her. She chuckled.

"I bet," she replied wryly. Casey looked down and saw that she was holding the crane gently in her hands.

"Like crane's?" he asked and she started.

"What?" she asked confused. He motioned to the figure in her hands.

"You seem pretty taken with it," he commented and she looked down at the wooden animal.

"I was just thinking about how they remind me of the Ninja Rangers zords back in Angel Grove," she told him. It was Casey's turn to appear startled and he looked at the six animals in surprise.

"Really?" he asked, sliding into the seat across from her and reaching for the smallest of the six. "They had a frog ranger?"

For some reason, this question caused the woman to fall into helpless giggles. He stared at her uncomprehendingly until she finally settled down.

"Sorry, I just…frog ranger," she giggled again. Casey couldn't help the smile that came to his face; her laughter was infectious.

"Seriously tho, yeah. The Ninja Rangers of Angel Grove had these six animals after they lost their old zords. As far as I know, the black ranger never went by Frog Ranger though," she told him and Casey laughed.

"Probably like the Jungle Fury Rangers here," he told her. "None of them go by their animals either."

"It's been my experience that most rangers don't," she told him with a small smile. Casey's smile turned wry.

"So you're from Angel Grove?" he asked and she nodded.

"I was born here in Oceans Bluff but moved to Angel Grove with my mom when I was six," she told him.

"What about your dad?" he asked and she frowned.

"He and my brother moved to a tiny town a few hours from here," she replied, his voice telling him to not to speak of her father again.

"What about your brother?" he asked instead and she smiled wryly.

"He moved back to Oceans Bluff a couple years ago," she told him and he nodded.

"Here to visit him?" he asked and she nodded, looking amused.

"More or less," she replied with a laugh. Casey was about to ask what was so funny when Theo called him. Seeing his expression, he groaned and stood up.

"I hate to do this, but I have to go, uh, get some supplies for the dinner rush. Hope you have a good visit with your brother!" he called and was out the door before she could reply.

* * *

Half an hour and many newly formed bruises later, Casey finally returned to the pizza parlor. Walking down from the loft, half his attention was on listening to RJ, Theo, and Lily discussing the latest attack while the other half was thinking about his customer from earlier. As he walked through the door to the main room, he was surprised but not unpleased to see that she was still there, though about to leave if the cash in her hands was any indication. Fran turned around and smiled brightly at them. Casey's answering smile turned to a frown when Fran's expression suddenly went confused. He glanced at the woman and was surprised to see her staring at something behind him with an amused smile.

Turning, he found Lily and Theo watching RJ warily as the older man stared at the woman in shock. Suddenly, his expression brightened like the sun and he rushed forward and swept the girl into his arms. Casey moved back with Fran, Lily, and Theo as the woman laughed as RJ swung her around. Finally, RJ set her back down, still grinning.

"New employee's bro?" she asked, looking up at him, her lips quirked into a smile. RJ glanced at the four teens. He nodded.

"This is Casey, Lily, Theo, and Fran," he introduced the four, pointing to each as he said their name.

"Met him," she replied, motioning to the red ranger. She smiled apologetically at the other three. "Haven't met them."

RJ laughed and wrapped an arm around the girls' shoulders. Casey was struck by the physical similarities between the two and a theory formed in his head. It was confirmed a minute later when their master introduced the woman.

"Guys, this is my big sister, Kimberly."


	2. CH 2: We Are Family

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many  
**Author Notes: **I blame this one entirely on Tara. Seriously. I do.

* * *

"RJ still up in the loft with Kimberly?" Lily asked a few hours later. Casey nodded, looking up at the stairs again. He couldn't hear anything except soft murmurs. Knowing the drama that had followed when Master Finn had shown up, the red ranger couldn't help but wonder what this young woman would bring with her.

* * *

"I honestly have to say I'm surprised," Kim told her brother as they settled in the small kitchenette. RJ tilted his head quizzically at her and she motioned to the Loft.

"You always said you wanted to open a pizza parlor but I never thought you'd actually do it," she told him. "It never corresponded with what Dad wanted you to do."

"Like Dad never wanted you to go professional with gymnastics?" he replied knowingly and Kim smiled wryly.

"Touche."

RJ smiled. "Dad's actually okay with it now. I even taught him how to make the perfect pizza last week," he told her. Kim raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Really?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, didn't do that bad either," he agreed. A disbelieving snort escaped her lips and RJ's expression fell. "You're still mad at him."

"Last I heard you weren't on talking terms either," she shot back and he looked apologetic.

"We made up only recently," he shrugged. "I didn't have time to call. Things have been hectic lately."

"Mmmhmm," she replied noncommittally. RJ made a face that would have surprised his students.

"So what brings you to Oceans Bluff?" he asked, getting up and walking to the fridge. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kim staring at him quizzically. "What?"

"Since when are you a Jack Sparrow wannabe?" she asked, his expression torn between disbelief and humor. RJ rolled his eyes and turned back to the fridge.

"Water?" he called.

"Yes, please," she replied, sitting down at the counter.

"Here you go," he turned back, two glasses of water in hand. He handed one to his sister. "To sibling rivalry; may we never get along and scare our parents."

Kimberly snorted but tipped her cup with his. "They seem like nice kids," she commented once they had both drank. RJ smiled.

"They are," he agreed. "How are mom and Pierre?"

Kim glanced around, the silence grating on her nerves. She was used to the bustle of a gym full of girls working to three different music tracks at once; the silence was oppressive. She turned back to her brother. "They're good. Pierre got commissioned to work on a portrait for some French government official and his family."

"And mom?" he asked, staring hard at her. Kim shrugged.

"She's gossiping about the commission with all her friends," she replied. "Still asking why I haven't married and made her a grandma yet."

RJ made a face. "While I would greatly enjoy the fun of teaching little cubs the art of pizza, please don't make me an uncle just because mom wants grandkids," he pleaded. Kim snickered.

"I have to find a guy first," she pointed out with a smile. RJ frowned.

"What about what's his name; Luke?" he asked. Kim blinked at him.

"Luke and I broke up over six years ago," she informed him blandly. RJ scratched his cheek.

"Who was your last boyfriend then?" he asked, taking a swallow of his water. Kim blinked at him again, looking amused.

"Luke," she replied dryly. RJ coughed.

"You mean my gorgeous big sister has been single for six years? What happened to always on the lookout for prince charming?" he asked as the three teens entered the kitchenette. Kim glanced at Casey quickly before grinning back at RJ.

"All were frogs," she told him, a twinkle in her eyes. RJ looked over at Casey when he started laughing. Shrugging to himself, the Pài Zhuǎ Master turned back to Kim.

"Haven't you heard the story of the Frog Prince?" he asked and Kim made the oddest expression. It was like she wanted to laugh or say something but was fighting it.

"Yeah, met him too," she finally replied, a small smile on her face. RJ tilted his head quizzically but Kim just waved it away. RJ turned his attention to the three teens.

"Was there something you guys wanted or did you just want to interrogate my sister?" he asked and the three teens exchanged semi-panicked looks. Off to the side, Kim stifled a laugh.

"Give em a break, Rage. They just found out their boss and friend has a sister and I'm sure they learned about the issues we have with dad recently. It's only natural they be curious," she told him. RJ nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Rage?" Lily asked, amused. RJ grimaced and Kim grinned.

"I'm not allowed to call him by his real name so I call him Rage," she explained, knowing what their next question was likely to be.

"What's his real name?" Theo asked curiously. RJ shot to his feet and slapped a hand over his sister's mouth.

"Not a word, Kim!" he warned and she narrowed her eyes. RJ suddenly snatched his hand back.

"You licked me!" he accused. As Casey, Theo, and Lily all snickered at RJ's disgusted expression, Kim simply smiled sweetly at him.

"You should know better than to put your hand over my mouth, little brother," she told him pleasantly. RJ made a face and wiped his hands down the side of his apron.

"Don't call me that," he grumbled. Kim smirked.

"Why not? You are my little brother after all," she replied. He made another face.

"Only by a year," he grumbled again, hearing the chuckles and giggles coming from his students. He turned back to them. "Don't you three have somewhere to be?"

"We're going," Casey told him, smiling. Behind him, Lily and Theo were trying (and failing) to stifle their laughter. RJ shooed them with his hands.

"Go. Work," he told them and the three left, grins firmly in place. He grabbed Kim's empty glass and turned to the sink.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a wolf," he muttered as he quickly washed the glasses.

"Actually, I'm a crane," she replied without thinking. RJ turned to her in confusion and she smiled at him.

"Crane Gymnastics, remember?" she asked and her brother nodded.

"Right," he replied. He'd forgotten about his sister's habit of making comments that made absolutely no sense to him, though they usually amused her. The fact she could leave him feeling as if he was missing something was one of the inspirations for his practice of leaving his enemies with a confusing thought. If they felt even a fraction of the bewilderment he often felt when talking with Kim, he'd done his job.

"So what has the old bat been up to?"

"Flying," RJ replied automatically. At her raised eyebrow, he realized she wasn't talking about Swoop; she didn't even _know_ Swoop. "Around the country. Dad is flying around the country."

"Still teaching?" she asked and he nodded. She got a funny look on her face. "RJ? What does he teach? No one has ever told me."

"Uh," RJ hesitated, considering what to tell her. He finally settled on something close to the truth. "He teaches Kung Fu."

Kimberly blinked at him. "Our father teaches Kung Fu? He knows Kung Fu?" she asked and RJ nodded. "Our father?" she asked again for clarification and RJ nodded again, now amused.

"Yeah, he goes around offering to teach. He has a specific style and he's expert at swords," he told her. Kim just looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Our father is an expert swordsman?" she asked skeptically and RJ smiled.

"Why are you having trouble with that?" he asked and she made a face.

"My best friends are almost all martial artists and not a single one comes close to the amount of issues dad has," she replied. She paused for a moment and then added "Except possibly Tommy."

RJ rolled his eyes. "Dad is not your best friends," he reminded her and she smirked.

"No kidding," she replied. RJ winced a bit; he'd really walked into that one.

"Dad is trying to change," he told her.

"Can't teach an old dog new tricks," she shot back. RJ made the oddest face but shook it off.

"From small beginnings come great things," he shot back.

"Don't change horses while crossing a stream."

"No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning."

"No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen."

"When the heat has past, you forget about the shade tree."

"A donkey always says thank you with a kick."

"The reverse side also has a reverse side."

"Time heals old pain, while it creates new ones."

"Look for the good, not the evil, in the conduct of members of the family."

"Every animal knows more than you do."

"So that's where he gets it from."

Lily's voice broke the siblings from their one-upmanship. They turned to Lily, similar expressions of amused irritation on their faces. The yellow ranger blinked at them but quickly shook it off.

"Theo and I are going to the store for more bananas," she told RJ who nodded.

"I won," Kim announced. RJ turned to her in disbelief, silently dismissing Lily to go to the store.

"How do you figure that?" he demanded. Kim smiled sweetly at him.

"My proverb was the last one in. Therefore, I win," she told him. RJ scowled playfully at her.

"Ahh, but I was just about to reply when Lily interrupted," he argued and the two began squabbling. Shaking her head at their antics, Lily left.

* * *

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Lily asked later that night. She, Fran, and Kim were cleaning up the kitchen while the boys did the front. The older woman grimaced.

"I was forced to take a sabbatical," she told her grimly. Lily frowned as RJ popped up behind Fran.

"Sabbatical?" he asked, startling the bookworm. Fran glared at him half-heartedly even as Kimberly made a face.

"Katherine, Michelle, and Renee forced me to take an extended vacation," she muttered dejectedly. RJ frowned.

"Don't you own the gym?" he asked and she nodded, looking disgruntled. "So how can they force you to take a vacation?"

"That's what I asked," she muttered as Theo and Casey wandered back to the kitchen. "They cornered me and told me that I was not allowed to step foot in the gym for at least a month."

"And you let them get away with it?" Lily asked, bewildered. Kimberly's shoulders slumped as she caught her brother's eyes.

"They threatened to call Jason and Tommy," she told him and RJ snickered. She pouted. "It's not funny, RJ! Do you know what those two did the last time the girls called them cause they thought I was being stubborn?" she demanded.

"Didn't they take you and Hayley to Hawaii?" he asked, confused, and she nodded irritably.

"You were upset because you got a trip to Hawaii?" Casey asked, confused. Kim hesitated before sighing in resignation.

"No, that part was actually really nice," she admitted and Casey smirked. "It was the fact they felt they had to 'save me from myself' that irritated me. I can take care of myself, thank you!"

RJ smiled wryly at Casey, Lily, and Fran's confused looks. "It wasn't the vacation that irritated her, it was the fact she wasn't given a choice in the matter," he told them and they finally seemed to understand. Theo simply nodded in agreement to what Kimberly was saying. The wolf master knew his blue ranger was thinking of his training with Swoop.

"So!" Kim smiled brightly as she turned to her suddenly wary brother. "Can I crash?"

"I am NOT going to give Tommy or Jason reason to kick my ass!" he replied immediately. She pouted at him and RJ groaned. "Don't give me that look!"

"Please RJ? I promise not to do too much!" she needled. "Besides, I can't cook, you know that."

RJ snorted in laughter. His sister burned soup. "Fine, you can help Fran waitress," he told her, knowing she would bring out the big guns if he didn't agree. He'd rather not face his mother's anger about him not letting his sister stay with him during her exile. He ignored Casey, Lily, and Theo's slightly alarmed looks; he didn't need them to remind him that they had a pretty big secret to keep and he had no idea how to do that with his surprisingly observant older sister in the house. This was going to be an interesting month.

* * *

**End Notes:** Thanks for all the reviews! Wow. This started off as a random bunny that has completely blown up. Wow.

Thanks to _Black Rouge_, _AnimeJunkieGrrl_, _Silver Warrior_, _Tierra_, _Tommyfan4ever_, _monkeerangerfan_, _the real vampire_, _Pokelad_, _Trinix216_, _rangerfanforever_, _prfan83_, _GinaStar_, _pontiger27_, and _Rivulet027_ for the reviews.


	3. CH 3: Stand in the Rain

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"RJ, why do you always keep these six together?" Kim asked a few days later as they prepared for the lunch rush. The Wolf Master had given Kimberly the pre-rush job of making sure all the shakers were filled with peppers and parmesan and let Casey, Theo, Lily, and Fran get things ready in the kitchen. Once the rush began, Lily, and Fran would come out to work alongside Kim and he would go back to the kitchen to cook. He had been serious when he said she wasn't cooking in his kitchen.

"Dad told me a story once, about the six sacred animals," he told her once he saw what she was holding. She raised an eyebrow and he scrambled to think of how to tell her the legend without giving his secret away.

"According to Dad, the story said that an ancient evil would be released and the sacred animals would find six warriors who would be able to harness their power to fight him. They would introduce him to the fire of the heavens and he would be destroyed forever," he told her, leaving out that the legend was also considered a prophecy by the Order of the Claw. He and Master Mao believed it to have been fulfilled in 1995 when the Power Rangers of Angel Grove battled, and defeated, Ivan Ooze by tossing him in front of Orion's Comet. The clincher was that the new powers they used to do it were of the six sacred animals. This was one of the reasons he knew his dad had accepted his finding his own animal—if it had been anything but a sacred animal, chances were they'd still be on unfriendly terms.

"So you keep them together as a reminder of the story?" she asked, her voice strangled. He nodded, noticing for the first time that she was clutching the Crane in her hand. He frowned but didn't get a chance to ask what was on his mind due to Lily and Fran stumbling out of the kitchen amid a cloud of flour. RJ sighed as he saw Casey and Theo inside, covered in white. Next to him, Kimberly smiled slightly. As RJ went to deal with the kitchen crisis, Kimberly gently put the Crane back down.

* * *

"Hey Fran, can I ask you something?" Kim asked as she and the younger girl worked in the parlor. Fran smiled at her, glad the rush was over and that she had someone who seemed more dependable than the three other teens.

"Sure!" she chirped.

"Do they do that a lot?" she asked, motioning to the carelessly tossed aprons behind the counter. Since she had arrived three days before, the three teens had disappeared twice and both times had corresponded with monster attacks. Kim wasn't stupid; she knew the signs of rangers ditching to go fight a battle.

Fran made a disgruntled face and nodded. "Every day or so they get this sudden need to take off. And whenever they leave, RJ disappears upstairs for an hour or so," she told her. Kim nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Do you know what their favorite colors are?" she asked, realizing that either Fran had no clue what was going on or she was one really good actress.

"Not really but whenever I see them out of their uniform they are wearing at least one thing of red, blue, and yellow," Fran told her with a shrug. Kim smirked, looking at the kitchen door as she realized who their guide had to be.

"Well what do you know? Not-so-itty-bitty mentor," she murmured a small smile on her face. At Fran's confused look, she waved her away.

"It's nothing, family stuff," she told her and Fran nodded in acceptance.

"So you're from Angel Grove, right? Casey told us," she added at Kimberly's surprised look. The older woman nodded.

"Yeah. I was born here in Oceans Bluff though. Same as Rage," she smiled slightly and Fran's brow furrowed.

"Rage?" she asked and Kim smirked.

"His real name is Requiem James," she whispered and laughed delightedly at Fran's baffled look. "Our dad loves sharks and Requiem sharks are the most common type," she explained with a grin. Fran's expression cleared and a small smile appeared on her face.

"That's really his name?" she asked with a giggle and Kim nodded.

"Mom named me and agreed Dad could name Rage," she told her. "Of course, Mom had no clue what Dad was planning on naming their son but couldn't argue when he told her."

"Why not?" Fran asked and Kimberly's eyes twinkled with mirth.

"The nurse had already walked away, shaking her head as she wrote it down on his birth certificate," she told her with a grin. Fran giggled.

"So why do you call him Rage?" Fran asked as the man in question appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"She couldn't pronounce RJ when she was a baby; it kept coming out as Rage," he told her and Kim nodded.

"It just kinda stuck," she explained with a shrug as the three teens sped in. Fran smiled at them.

"Have a good break?" she asked kindly and the three nodded.

"Sorry Fran, Kim," Casey told them, motioning for them to take a seat. "We'll take it from here."

Smiling, Kim undid her apron and handed it gratefully to her brother. She was not cut out to do this for a living. She'd much rather face Tommy when he was evil than some of the customers she'd had to deal with the last few days.

* * *

"I can't believe them!" Fran ground out as she pounded on the dough. Kim raised an eyebrow as she walked down from the Loft. An alarm she had taken to mean signaled trouble had sounded and her brother had almost forced her down the stairs, rambling on about his meditation hour. If she hadn't known better, the young woman almost would have believed him.

"I take it they split?" she asked sympathetically and Fran nodded, looking irritated.

"Why doesn't it bother you?" she asked and Kim shrugged.

"I used to do the same thing to Ernie so it'd be kinda hypocritical to be throwing stones," she told her. Fran huffed.

"Its not the same, all you ever did was lose your food and drinks!" she scowled, having heard about the man from both Kim and her brother. "I don't know why RJ puts up with it!"

"He's RJ," Kim shrugged and Fran snorted. They let the matter drop; Fran didn't want to anger RJ's sister and Kim knew that Fran would probably understand a lot better once she found out. _She better find out_, Kim though to herself. _If she doesn't, I'm gonna have a long talk with that man_.

* * *

Kim was in the back of the parlor when Casey, Theo, and Lily came walking back in. She hid a smile at their exuberance and then abruptly walked into the kitchen when Fran cornered the three. She knew if she stayed, she'd give herself away. She wasn't ready to spill her secrets so soon, despite knowing theirs.

When RJ and the three rangers sped up to the loft, Kimberly glanced out the door and quietly went up. She stopped just short of poking her head up over the floor. She was safe in the knowledge that while she could hear what they said, they couldn't see her and therefore didn't know she was there.

"Masters?" RJ asked, laughing. "Not quite."

"What do you mean, we're fearless fighting machines, we're unbeatable!" Casey exclaimed and Kimberly just stopped herself from bashing her head into the wall. _Is he trying to jinx himself?!_ She asked incredously.

"Confidence is good, but overconfidence is dangerous. It's time to go back to basics," RJ told them and Kim grinned in triumph as she slipped back down to the kitchen.

"I'm not sure if I should be scared or proud that RJ is the most level-headed out of the four of them she muttered to herself as she went to the front to switch places with Fran.

* * *

Kim looked up at the loft. It'd been quiet since the three teens had disappeared with RJ. She was half tempted to sneak up to take a peak at what they were up to. Before she could actually do it, however, RJ himself came barreling down and out the door without a word. Kim frowned. She recognized that tenseness, that expression. She and the others had worn it enough times to recognize the worry that a battle was about to go very wrong.

"Casey!" Kimberly shouted, running forward. The young man stopped and turned his face neutral as he faced his master's sister. Behind him, in the side courtyard, Theo and Lily waited impatiently.

"I don't have a whole lot of time, what's up?" he asked. Kim frowned.

"Where's RJ?" she asked, her tone leaving no room for argument. Casey hesitated before saying the first thing that came to mind.

"He went to the market to get something. He called and asked us to come over to help get everything he bought back to JKP," he told her. Kim raised an eyebrow, knowing he was lying and guessing she knew why.

"When you see him, tell him we have something we need to discuss when he gets back," she told the red clad boy and he nodded before heading out with his teammates.

Kim's jaw tightened. She couldn't just sit back and let them do it; as much as she wanted to, the part of her that would always be a ranger forbid it. Pulling out her cell phone, she texted the one person she suspected had the answers she sought.

An hour later she heard his semi-familiar footsteps coming up the stairs. Standing, she turned to great the blue clothed man. His face showed nothing but shock when he entered the room and saw her.

"Kimberly?" he asked, surprised and she smiled grimly.

"Long time no see, Dad."

* * *

**End Notes:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Normally, I'd name ya'll but there's quite a few of you (holy shit, 32 reviews for two chapters?!) so I can't. Hope you all enjoy!

Someone asked if this will be Tommy/Kim. I'm gonna get that out of the way now--No, it will NOT be Kim/Tommy. While I occasionally read Tommy/Kim fics, I almost never write them myself. As far as I'm concerned, that ship sailed and is over. I ship Tommy with Hayley most of the time (not all of the time tho--he marries Kat Manx in Heritage and occasionally I slash him with Jason). Kim typically either ends up with Adam or Jason in my writing. So please, don't ask me to make it Tommy/Kim. It will only irritate me.


	4. CH 4: All I Wanted

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**TimeLine:** During Ghost of a Chance Part 1 & 2  
**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Kimberly, what are you doing here? Where's RJ?" he demanded. Kimberly crossed her arms, grim determination etched painstakingly on her pretty features. She always hated confronting people but her father was the worse. He always seemed to make her hackles rise in a way not even Rita or Zedd's presence could—and she'd spent an ungodly amount of time with those two since Zordon's death.

"I've been here visiting RJ. And as for where he is, that's why I texted you," she told him. He frowned.

"You texted me? RJ is the only one who has that number," he said, his eyes catching two familiar forms moving from the shadows. His daughter stared hard at him, not surprised by his outburst. RJ was his favorite child, she had always suspected that. After all, she hadn't seen him in nearly ten years, and the first thing he asked wasn't how she was but where her brother had gone.

"RJ gave it to me. Said that if something happened, you would know what to do," she finally told him, sensing the two intruders. She raised an eyebrow. "Friends of yours?"

Finn stared at her, surprised she had felt the presence of his two companions. "How did you know they were there?" he asked suspiciously. Kimberly smirked.

"There's a lot you don't know about me dad," she told him dryly. "I have more secrets than you could ever imagine."

"This coming from someone who spends her days flipping around on a little beam," he replied, the disappointment clear in his voice. The two mystery men exchanged looks as Kim scowled.

"Flipping around saved my life more times than I care to admit," she told him, annoyed he had the gall to question her career choice when he'd been so absent in her life. Finn snorted.

"Why did you call us here?" the one who reminded her of an overgrown bat broke in quietly. Kimberly glanced at him before glaring at her father.

"I called _him_ here, not you. You're the ones crashing," she told them. Batman's expression didn't change but the other man looked irritated.

"The number was only to be called for emergencies," he informed her gruffly. Kim raised an eyebrow and turned to her glowering father.

"And I think Rage missing qualifies as an emergency, don't you?" she asked him and was surprised when the older main straightened, something like panic on his face.

"Missing?" Swoop asked sharply and Kimberly nodded, slightly taken aback at their worry.

"Casey seems to think he has it under control but I know something's up. And you're not leaving until you tell me what it is," she told her father. He scowled, his eyes snapping in anger.

"Now see here young lady! I am your father and you will not speak to me like that!" he bit out.

"Calm yourself, shark," a soft voice called out. The three men and young woman looked to the corner as a figure in black and red outfit appeared from thin air. Absently noting the various emblems resembling cats placed strategically on his outfit, Kim glanced at her father to find him watching her in confusion.

"This isn't the first time I've seen someone appear out of thin air," she told him dryly. The new man smiled slightly at Finn's incredulous expression.

"Indeed, it is not Shark. You're daughter was not lying when she said she had more secrets than you knew," he told her.

"Master Mao," Finn and the two men nodded to him as Kimberly just smiled grimly.

"RJ gave himself over to Dai Shi to assure Casey, Theo, and Lily's safety," Mao told them calmly. The three men shot him shocked looks as Kim just shook her head.

"I knew I should never have let him hang out with Jason and Tommy," she muttered to herself before looking at Mao. "I take it Dai Shi is the big bad?"

Mao nodded. "Dai Shi is the spirit of a great evil originally vanquished ten thousand years ago," he told her.

She shrugged. "Can't be any worse than Rita or Zedd."

"That remains to be seen," Mao told her and she made a face.

"Wonderful," she responded dryly.

"Can we get back to RJ's predicament?" Batman asked and Mao nodded.

"I will go to Casey, Theo, and Lily now. However, you all need to be honest with each other. If they fail, it will fall to you four to protect earth," Mao told them. Finn frowned and Kim made another face. Despite her determination to discover what the hell was going on, she did NOT want to be in charge of saving the world again.

"How can Kimberly help fight Mao? She's not a Pui Zhua," Finn argued. Mao smiled.

"No, her power is older than the Order of the Claw," he told the three living Masters as he faded from sight. "Much older."

"What does he mean?" Batman asked quietly. Kim smiled grimly; if it was anyone else missing, she would have told him to take a hike. But this was RJ who was missing, the one family member who had never had had any expectations when it came to her. And these three guys seemed generally worried about it. It also helped that she'd finally noticed the three animal emblems on the men's outfits. If her suspicions were correct, her father's obsession with sharks suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

"This," she finally replied, stepping back. Kim brought her hands together and bowed her head, concentrating. Swoop's eyes narrowed as his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a bird crying out joyfully. Phant and Finn stared in disbelief as Kimberly was suddenly engulfed in a bright light. When it faded, the young woman was dressed head to toe in pink cloth with gold lining. Her doe brown eyes peaked out from a mouth cowl and hood. Finn stared at the emblem on her chest and nearly stopped breathing.

Phant, on the other hand, suddenly started laughing. "Only you, Finn, would have both children end up with a sacred animal!" he guffawed as Kimberly pulled her hood and mouth guard down. Swoop smiled as Finn simply stared. Kim smirked at him, feeling absurdly proud at her father's bafflement.

"I am the Crane, agile and graceful!"

* * *

"So what does Phua Zhua mean?" Kim asked once her father and the two men had calmed down from her revelation.

When Zordon had died, he had left his "children" gifts in the form of their powers restored. Jason, Trini, and Zack's old powerless coins were suddenly recharged and raring to go while Kim and Billy had discovered they could morph into both their Morphin uniforms and the Ninjetti ones. Adam, Rocky, and Aisha had not officially been re-given the Morphin powers; Adam believed it was due to the fact they were not the original owner of the power. This theory also explained why Katherine hadn't been given a Crane coin in addition to her reassembled pink zeonizers.

Tommy's gift, however, had shocked them all. All three of his old power coins had been restored to him, including the Dragon. While he'd never used the first three powers since Zordon's passing, it was common knowledge among the original sixteen that he could if he wanted to. Outside of the sixteen rangers who had known Zordon, none knew about the restoration until Adam's appearance to help the Overdrive rangers.

The Sentinel Knight had originally gone to Zack to request his assistance and had found both him and Adam. Zack, having to work on a new music video, had regretfully declined joining the veteran's team. He did, however, insist that Adam use the Mastodon rather than the Frog; the two black rangers agreed it was only fitting that the leader be in an original uniform rather than a second generation one.

After the Overdrive rangers had regained their powers, the original sixteen had met up to discuss the situation. After numerous tests, it was concluded that anyone who had held the same power could share it but anyone who had never worn the power couldn't. So Rocky and Jason could share the T-Rex if they had to, but Jason couldn't become the Red Ape. Katherine and Kimberly could share Crane if they wanted, but Katherine hadn't been able to morph into the Pteradactyl. Andros had said it was likely Zordon had made the powers hereditary when he died, like the gold Zeo's tended to be. It would still be several years before they could determine if that was true or not since the oldest child of the original sixteen was only six years old.

"Pha Zua, the Order of the Claw. We are masters of Kung F with individual styles based on various animals. I am the Master of the Bat technique," Swoop told her, rising a few feet in the air to demonstrate.

"I am the Master of the Elephant technique," Phant told her gruffly. Kim smiled and turned to her father.

"Shark technique, I take it?" she and he nodded, his eyes guarded.

"It's a family tradition passed from father to son," he told her. She frowned.

"So RJ…," she trailed off at her father's expression.

"No, he said it wasn't who he is, despite my training," Finn told her reluctantly. "He went looking for his own animal."

"Which would be…?" she asked, guessing that this was the root of all the issues between her father and brother. She wondered at his less hostile behavior but chalked it up to her revealing her animal spirit to him. She was surprised when her father smiled.

"The Wolf," he replied proudly. Kim smirked; Phant comment from earlier suddenly made sense.

"The Wolf and Crane, begotten by a Shark," she snickered, causing Phant and Swoop to chuckle.

"Kimberly?" Swoop inquired, "Why did you come to Ocean's Bluff? It wasn't just to visit your brother, was it?"

Kim sighed. "My girls realized I hadn't taken a vacation in almost four years so they forced me to," she admitted. Finn didn't respond but Swoop and Phant nodded.

"If one takes on too much, all things will fall apart," he told her wisely.

"I know. I love what I do and I enjoy training the girls so I didn't see the need to vacation," she shrugged.

"Even the strongest person needs a break now and then," Phant told her knowingly.

"If you don't take breaks, you'll gradually lose the love you evidently have for what you do," Finn told her quietly before his expression turned wry. "Though I don't think coming to Oceans Bluff was probably the best idea for that."

Kim's lips quirked at her father silently amazed at how much tension had disappeared between them with the simple act of revealing the Crane to him. She still had things she knew she needed to hash out with the old Shark, but a lot of things from her childhood suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense. She could almost even forgive him for not being around the last several years. Almost.

"What should we do now?" Swoop asked suddenly. Phant, Finn, and Kimberly suddenly remembered why they had all come together. Kim bit her lip.

"You three should leave; keep an eye on the world. I'll stay here and keep things going at JKP until RJ and kids get back. It'll be much less suspicious that way," she told them reluctantly. Finn opened his mouth to argue but Kim shook her head.

"Dad, please. This is a lot to take in for both of us. I just need time," she told him. Finn frowned but Swoop nodded.

"I agree with Master Crane, Finn," he told the man. "You both need time to come to terms with what you have learned before you try to reconcile your differences."

"Master Crane?" Kim asked, confused. Phant and Finn both frowned at Swoop as well.

"She's not a Pua Zhua master, you old bat," Phant reminded him irritably. Swoop quirked his lips in a small smile.

"No, as Master Mao said, her power is older than that," he agreed. "Nevertheless, I believe that same power deserves some measure of respect."

"Not Crane, though," Finn agreed, seeing what his friend meant. "If she has a Master title, it will be traditional."

"I'm not changing my name, dad," Kimberly told him with a frown. Finn nodded.

"My family name is the exception, not the rule. You can keep your mother's name," he told her and she nodded.

"Master Rane?" Phant suggested, looking bemused. Coming up with Master names was always fun.

"Master Cray?" Swoop suggested.

"Master Wing," Finn put forth decidedly. Kimberly raised an eyebrow.

"I am Finn, Master of the Shark. Though he informed me he never uses the name, RJ is Paw, Master of the Wolf. You should therefore be Wing, Master of the Crane," he told her and Swoop and Phant nodded in agreement.

"Masters Finn, Paw, and Wing," Kim said, rolling them around in her head. She nodded.

"I can work with that," she agreed. As the three men stood to leave, Kim had a thought.

"Once RJ gets back, I'll text you. But I want you three to promise me something," she requested, her voice deadly serious. The three looked at her as she took a deep breath.

"I don't want you telling RJ about me; I want to do it myself."

* * *

**End Notes:** THanks to everyone for the comments!

Some people have expressed interest/derisiveness about the possibility of Kim becoming a ranger in this fic. As shown in this chapter, Ninjetti/Morphin are the only ranger powers she'll have. She is _not _Pua Zhua, so she _can't_ use the Pua Zhua morphers. She may join them in battle as the Crane if they need sneakiness or simply extra help, but she is mostly a mentor/ally, kinda like Kat from SPD or Sentinal Knight from OO. So to answer the question, she may power up into Ninjetti once in a while but she will _not _join the team as a full on JF Ranger.

As for RJ's name...while I love mythology, Romulus or Remus would have been too cliche for my tastes. And Requiem fits Finn better.


	5. CH 5: Heartcry

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**TimeLine:** Set during Ghost of a Chance Part 2  
**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Well, damn," Kim muttered as she stared at the various screens. Her brother was tied to a pole as two monsters and two human looking warriors stood by. The human looking man who Kimberly was going to assume was Dai Shi called for the rangers to show or lose their Master. Scowling, she pulled up her wrist and pressed the teleportation button on her old communicator.

Billy had rebuilt the teleportation system just before the fiasco with the Sentinal Knight. At the time, he hadn't known why he felt the sudden urge to do so but later chalked it up to the Grid preparing for the worst. Kim was just thankful she hadn't left the old wrist band at home.

She landed just to the side of where RJ was being kept, beind a large group of boulders. Mentally grumbling about monsters and rock quarries, she peaked over. Casey, Theo, and Lily were posturing with Dai Shi and therefore couldn't see the large group of Rinshi quietly moving in behind them.

"God damnit," she muttered and then froze as she caught sight of movement behind the Rinshi's. Squinting, she suddenly grinned when she realized who it was. "Let's just make this a family affair, then, why don't we?"

Content to leaving her father and his two friends to deal with the two dozen footsoldiers, Kimberly studied the cliff RJ was being held on. The chick she figured she could handle; it was the two monsters with the staffs that were going to be the problem.

"Isn't that your brother?"

Kimberly stifled a shriek at Adam's voice. Twirling, she gaped at the black clothed ninjetti. Despite the seriousness of the situation, his eyes were crinkled up in a smile at her reaction. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Alpha noticed a pink had used the teleportation system," Adam told her quietly. "I came to investigate."

Kim made a face; she had forgotten Andros and Billy had built mini command centers in Adam's house and dojo for Alpha. After his little foray into the Grid, the automaton had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on the systems Billy had built for all the formers.

"RJ is the new mentor, he was captured. I need to get him since the newbie's are dealing with that psycho," she told him, pointing out at the fight between the black armored man and the newly morphed rangers. "And I need to do all of it without ruining my identity."

"We should never have let RJ hang out with Jason and Tommy back in high school," Adam groaned and Kim smirked.

"How do you want to do this?" he asked, content to follow the pink rangers lead since she was the one with the most knowledge of the situation. They both winced as the yellow ranger went flying amidst several explosions and then gaped as Casey called on his animal and a semi-translucent tiger attacked the black armored man.

"I wonder if we can do that?" the black clothed man asked curiously. Kim ignored the statement, knowing Adam would talk to Billy about testing it come the first available opportunity.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that's a new powerup?" Adam asked as Casey's uniform changed. Kim nodded.

"Considering RJ's expression, I'd say yeah," she murmured, noting her brother was looking proudly bemused. She outright grinned when the two monsters leapt down to join the lion warrior. "Well, that'll make things easier."

"We attack and free RJ?" Adam asked and Kim nodded.

"I'll will take on the chick; you go get RJ," she ordered as she prepared to go in.

"Uh, Kim?" Adam asked, his voice amused. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow and he waved at her. "You did say you didn't want RJ to know just yet, right?"

Kim looked down and made a face. A few muttered words and she was once again in her ninjetti uniform. She ignored Adam's knowing smirk and two moved forward.

"I don't like where this is going," the chick whispered as the two ninjetti came up behind her and RJ.

"You shouldn't," Kim smirked and the woman twirled around. The pink clothed warrior stifled a laugh as RJ tried unsuccessfully to turn around in his bonds to see what was going on; the two of them were just outside of his line of sight.

"Who invited you?!" she screeched and Kim and Adam exchanged amused looks.

"Déjà vu?" he asked and she nodded.

"Déjà vu," she agreed before turning to the woman. "You know, the last time someone asked Froggy that, she got her ass kicked. And that was _after _getting fried by her fiancee."

The woman glared. "Do not anger me midget," she sneered. Adam flinched and stepped back as Kimberly's stance turned pissed.

"MIDGET?!" she shrieked incensed. "I'll show you midget!"

With that, she charged. The woman's face showed a hint of shock for a moment before instinct kicked in and she went on the defensive. Camille stumbled back and swiftly changed into her monster form. Beneath her cowl, Kimberly just smirked. Shaking his head at his friend's antics, Adam moved forward.

"Dude, Ninjetti!" RJ grinned and Adam grinned. He'd always liked Kim's brother. Calling on his power, the black warrior cut RJ's bond and then grabbed him when he stumbled forward, holding onto his chest.

"You okay?" Adam asked and RJ nodded.

"Totally, no sweat!" he replied and the two turned to the two battles being fought.

In terms of power, the fight between Kimberly and Camille was almost evenly matched, with the chameleon only a bit more powerful than the pink ninjetti. Nevertheless, Camille didn't know what to make of the warrior who kept flipping every which way and dodging her attacks with almost effortless ease. Beneath his cowl, Adam smirked as he realized what Kimberly was doing.

The original ranger knew she was really no match for the chameleon when it came to martial arts ability. Kimberly had stopped practicing almost all martial arts when she had gone to Florida. She still did a kata Jason had taught her every morning but that was the limit to her practice. With this in mind, she had decided to try something else.

Kim was used to going almost nonstop in gymnastics day in and day out. Unlike other coaches, she had no qualms about physically showing a girl how to do a particular move or series of moves. This gave the original pink ranger a higher stamina than most others and it was this was employing. Camille was used to fairly short battles—the fact Kim could physically keep going long after Camille would tire out was what Kim was betting on for winning.

And as Adam watched the chameleon stumble as Kim abruptly kicked her in the stomach, he knew she was going to win. Camille jumped forward, going into flying kick that completely missed when Kimberly employed her line of sight teleportation to move behind her.

She spun around the woman, then jumped into the air and landed on her shoulders. Kim wrapped her feet around Camille's neck and backflipped, flinging her into the rocks. Kim landed and turned around as the woman's green armor exploded away to reveal her human form just as explosions announced the destruction of the two monsters.

"They can't do this to us!" she shrieked as the explosions faded away.

"Those are my students," RJ told her with a grin as Kim came to stand beside him. "There's nothing they can't do."

Camille huffed at them as they all turned to watch Casey's battle with Dai Shi ended with the man's armor disappearing. With a little cry of horror, Camille scrambled down to him.

"RJ, are you okay?" Casey asked, eyeing the two warriors warily. RJ nodded.

"I'm totally fine," he assured them as explosions sounded. The six fighters turned to see the monsters had been reenergized.

"Woah, shocking," RJ murmured. Kim and Adam exchanged exasperated glances.

"Things will never change," Kimberly muttered and Adam gave a little sound of agreement. The three rangers ignored the byplay but RJ grinned.

"Let's show them our new technique, guys!" Casey shouted and the three rangers stepped in front of RJ and the two ninjetti.

As the Penguin zord came into being and jumped on a surf board, Kim grabbed Adam's arm with a squeal. "_That_ is adorable!" she exclaimed, her eyes light with glee. A chuckle made her turn around to find Finn, Swoop, and Phant standing with RJ.

"Rinshi's dust?" she asked her father and he nodded.

"The Rinshi's are dust, Wing, Anura," he replied, nodding to the two Ninjetti. Kimberly snickered at Adam's long suffering sigh.

"Anura?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. Adam shot her a look.

"The taxonomy order frogs are in," he told her quietly. The only one who seemed to have caught the whisper was Swoop, who smiled. The six masters turned to the rangers fight just as the monster regrew again, taking the power of his fallen teammate.

"Combine all your animal spirits! It'll be out of control!"

"Combine your zords!" RJ and Kim called at the same time. Finn, Swoop, Phant, and Adam all exchanged amused looks as Casey and the rangers did just that. RJ and Kim just grinned at each other. Adam tugged on Kim's arm and she turned.

"We should go," he told her quietly. "They can handle it from here."

Kim nodded and turned to the four masters. "We'll be seeing you soon," she told them. Finn, Swoop, and Phant all nodded in understanding. RJ's expression was thoughtful. Kim could tell he recognized that he knew her, but couldn't pinpoint from where. She smiled as the three rangers came back. Kim and Adam looked at them as they demorphed.

"Good luck rangers," Kim murmured. As the seven Pài Zhuǎ looked on, Kim and Adam stepped back and bent their heads, their hands in a fist in front of their animal coins. In twin flashes of pink and black, they were gone.

"Who were they?" Casey asked. Finn smiled as Swoop and Phant exchanged pleased looks.

"Masters Wing and Anura of the Ninjetti."

* * *

**End Notes: **Thanks for all the reviews! They made my day.

_PinkRangerV:_ Can I just ask where you got that spelling and pronunciation from? Cause that's not Disney's spelling. And even if it was Disney's, I don't go by Disney cause they flip-flop their facts too much. I mean, for a while, Sky's last name according to Disney was Blake...and in one episode of SPD, Cruger actually calls him "Cadet Blake" even though he'd been calling him "Cadet Tate" since the start of the season.

I depend/rely on RangerWiki instead cause I'm friends with half the staff that's working on RangerWiki and I _know_ they spend **hours **researching the names, spelling, and histories that can be associated with various tidbits in the PR fandom. And they spell it Pai Zhua. In fact, to quote RangerWiki:

"Toon Disney's Press Release for the season spells the organization's name as Pai Zhuq, making that spelling more common among the fandom. Zhuq, however, is not an existing Chinese word, while zhuǎ actually does translate to "claw". It is possible Zhuq is just a typo."

Therefore, I will be using Pai Zhua in Begotten.

_Robin and Marian 4ever:_ Rocky and Aisha had the first PR child, a young boy named Steve.

_dguice: _I can't really see Kim as any other color than Pink, Purple, or Red and since Purple and Red are taken already in JF, if she had been a JF ranger, she would have been pink.

And don't hesitate to ask questions, ya'll, cause I do, in fact, like explaining myself. :)


	6. CH 6: Anyone But Me

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**TimeLine:** Set after Ghost of a Chance 2  
**Author Notes: **I made a video that is essentially a side story to Begotten over at my YT account that will make more sense once you read this chapter. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Fran, you know you can't tell anyone, right?" Theo was asking as Kim made her way upstairs. Frowning, Kim leaned against the stairs, peeking her head up so she could see what was going on in the loft.

"I know. I just…" she was grinning outrageously. Kim smiled as she realized the young woman had discovered their secret.

"Does Kimberly know?" Fran asked suddenly and the three teens shook their heads as RJ talked quietly with the three other Masters. "Are you sure? Cause she said some things and I think she may know."

"She can't," Lily told her. "How would she have figured it out?" Kim made a face and walked up the stairs.

"Because I was once in the same position you three are in now?" she asked, making the three teens jump. RJ stared at her, a little wary. Kim smirked.

"Let's look this over a little bit," she suggested, noting that Casey was slowly grinning, a peculiar gleam in his eyes. _The red ranger figured it out first. Huh._

"I'm from Angel Grove. I tend to wear an alarming amount of pink. I love Crane's and my father and brother are Pua Zhua masters," she told them, smiling at the flabbergasted expressions being sent her way. "Something you are gonna learn quickly is that when it comes to rangering, coincidences just don't happen."

Off to the side, RJ was doing a remarkable impression of a goldfish while her father and his friends just looked on in amusement. "How long have you known?" her brother asked and she shrugged.

"Not long," she assured him. "I didn't know when I came for a visit but I figured it out pretty quickly."

RJ nodded. "I see," he murmured before his eyes went wide. "Wait a minute--PINK?!"

Kimberly chuckled and stood back. She quickly morphed into her ninjette uniform, causing Theo and Lily to frantically bow their heads in respect. Kim made a face and waved them away.

"I'm not Pua Zhua, I'm Ninjetti. Different powers, same idea," she told them and RJ nodded.

"The Ninjetti are older than Pua Zhua," he murmured and Kim smirked.

"In more ways than one, bro," she told him. He raised an eyebrow and Kim smiled.

"I became Ninjette when I was sixteen," she told him. "According to what I heard, you became a Master at nineteen."

RJ sighed. "Older than me in almost every way," he grumbled and Kim laughed.

"Will you train us?"

Kimberly blinked and turned to Casey. "Say what?" she demanded and Casey looked like a deer in headlights.

"Well, Master Finn called you Master Wing, so I was wondering if that meant you were going to train us?" he asked. Kim choked.

"I'm not…I can't…I'M NOT TOMMY!" she almost shouted, much to the ranger's confusion. RJ, however, snickered. Quite a few things were suddenly making sense.

"Tommy is one of the originals, isn't he?" he asked and Kim nodded, still looking at Casey askance. "And he mentored the Dino Rangers in Reefside, didn't he?"

Kim nodded again. "I'm not Tommy, I can't teach," she whimpered.

"You teach gymnastics," Finn pointed out and Kim glared at him.

"That's gymnastics, not rangering!" she informed him hotly.

"Please?"

Kim turned back to Casey to find him looking at her like she'd just kicked his puppy. She glanced at Lily and Theo who had apparently followed Casey's leads and were giving her looks that would have made Orphan Annie proud. She gaped and then twirled on RJ. "What the hell have you been teaching them?!" she screeched, much to Finn's amusement. RJ's eyes went wide.

"I didn't teach them that!" he denied and Kim scowled.

"Likely story," she snorted.

"I didn't!" RJ yelled, almost frantically. Kim glared at him as he glared at his three sheepish students.

"Kim, I'm the only girl here, beside Fran and you were a ranger…" Lily trailed off and Kim gave her a sympathetic look. Suddenly, she realized what the yellow ranger was doing. She scowled.

"NO! I'm no mentor; I was the one who was constantly yelling for Tommy and Jason to save her!" she screeched.

"They could learn a lot from someone who's already been through this," Swoop said calmly. Kim twirled on him.

"Not you too!" she shrieked. Swoop leaned back, but stood his ground. Next to him, Phant nodded.

"You were a ranger for two and half years, Kimberly. They could learn a lot from your experience," Phant told her quietly. Kim gaped at him.

"Yeah, like how to have your power coin stolen!" she shot back. RJ raised an eyebrow.

"You've already helped them, whether you realize it or not," he told her quietly. "Having you here has been helpful for all of us."

"I know I really have no say in this but wouldn't it be better to have someone who's done this before as a second teacher?" Fran asked tentively. Everyone turned to her and she bit her lip. "I mean, RJ's obviously their main teacher, but they could use someone else around. Especially Lily."

Kim stared at her, trying, and failing, to refute the logic being thrown at her. "I left that path a long time ago," she finally murmured.

"Actually, going to help us says you haven't left it as much as you seem to think," Casey pointed out quietly.

"That was a…" she trailed off at the red ranger's expression.

"Fluke?" he asked and she nodded. He shook his head. "I don't think it was. I think it was just your inner ranger coming back."

She stared at him. The "inner ranger" was a term coined by Billy to explain former rangers' need to help in anyway possible, even after their powers were destroyed. It wasn't generally known outside of rangers, however.

"How do you know that term?" she asked, startled. Casey smiled slightly.

"My brother told me," he shrugged. Kim's brow furrowed.

"Your brother?" she asked and he nodded.

"Carter, my older brother from my mom's first marriage," he told her. Kimberly blinked at him.

"Lightspeed Red Carter is your older brother?" she asked and he nodded, looking amused.

"I haven't had a chance to call and let him know what's going on yet," he admitted and Kim nodded. She looked thoughtful before the initial argument came back to her.

"Point is, I can't mentor, I have my gym to run," she pointed out. Theo frowned.

"Didn't you say they said you weren't allowed back for a month, minimum?" he asked and she squirmed.

"…yes…" she muttered dejectedly, seeing what he was getting at.

"Please Kim?" Lily asked quietly, her expression completely serious. Kim made a disgruntled sound in the back of her throat as her expression turned resigned.

"Zordon is _so_ laughing at me right now."

* * *

"So you know how I took a forced vacation?" were the first words Tommy heard when he accepted the phone from Hayley. He frowned.

"Kimberly, what did you do?" he asked suspiciously and she let out a little laugh.

"Well, let's just say going to visit my brother probably wasn't the best idea," she replied.

Tommy's face bunched up in thought as he absently stirred the soup on the stove. Nearby Hayley was setting the table. "You went to visit your brother?"

"Yeah, in Ocean's Bluff," she told him and then waited. He abruptly began laughing.

"You're a mentor now, aren't you?" he gasped out and she made an annoyed sound. He continued laughing as Hayley snickered.

"RJ's the main mentor of the new team and they asked me to help train once everyone figured everything out," she told him reluctantly. Tommy wiped tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Now you can't call me Zordon Jr. anymore!" he crowed, causing Hayley to outright laugh.

"I tell you I'm a mentor to my brother's team, and _that's_ your response?" she asked incredulously.

"Karma, Kim, Karma," he told her, his eyes dancing in amusement. She snorted.

"Well, I want you to come down here next Saturday," she told him. He abruptly stopped laughing.

"Kim…" he started but she cut him off.

"One day Tommy. They're powers are similar to the Ninjetti. Rocky, Aisha, Adam, and Billy have all agreed to come next Saturday to help me work with the three of them," she told him. Tommy sighed.

"They have?" he asked and she made a little sound of agreement.

"Yeah. One day, Tommy, that's all I ask. Anything after that is entirely up to you," she pleaded and he sighed.

"Fine, I'll come by next Saturday," he agreed, catching his wife's eye. She merely smirked at him.

"And who knows, I might have just hashed things out with my dad by the time you get here," she chirped. Tommy blinked at the sudden topic change.

"What?" he asked and she snickered.

"My dad's a Shark," she told him. Tommy frowned.

"Explain to me how your dad is a Shark," he demanded and Hayley stopped and stared at him.

"He's a member of this really old Order of martial artists who have animal spirits, like us," she explained.

"And your father is a shark?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied and Tommy could hear what sounded like teens voices coming through the background.

"Kim?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you afraid of sharks?"

"And therein lies the irony."

* * *

**End Notes: **Thanks to all who reviewed!

_SlothKeeper/Dark Yellow Dino: _Yes, there will be, as evidenced by this chapter, cameo's by veterans. Certain members will pop up more than others but in the end, Kim is the only one who will be there as full on mentor.

_Lauren: _I'm still debating on ships, if any. And RJ and Billy will get their moment, but not for a while.

_tptigger: _I don't have a beta; I got through them alarmingly fast, especially when a bunny hits me like it has for Begotten. I usually go through all my chapters myself but I know I miss stuff. And apostrophes are not my friends. :) And for the record? I giggled like crazy when I saw you'd reviewed--I love your work!


	7. CH 7: Only the Young

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many  
**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Any idea what these are?"

Kimberly looked up curiously from where she was doing dishes. Casey and Theo had lugged up five small fed-ex boxes. Behind them, looking puzzled was her brother. She frowned and moved down to the main floor.

"Where are the girls?" she asked, wiping her hands on a cloth. RJ motioned down the stairs as Casey and Theo studied the boxes.

"They're finishing up the nightly cleanup," he told her as Casey studied the return address.

"They're from Lone Wolf Tech," Casey told them and Kim grinned. She knew what was in them.

"They're from Billy," she told them, settling onto a pink bean bag chair she had brought from Angel Grove the day after getting RJ back. Her father had taken off, saying something about work for Mao. Disgruntled at his not-so-surprising departure, Kim had dragged Fran and Lily with her to Angel Grove to get more clothes and other odds and ends she'd need if she was going to be serious about helping her brother.

"Billy?" RJ asked, looking at the boxes with renewed interest. Kim nodded, looking bemused.

"They're for each of you," she told him with a smile. Casey nodded as Fran and Lily made their way upstairs.

"The wipe-down is done," Lily announced as she and Fran flopped down in front of Kim. RJ snickered and Casey handed the girls boxes. While Lily looked surprised, it was nothing to look of shock on Fran's face.

"Billy isn't going to exclude you just 'cause you're not a ranger, Fran. You're a member of this team now," Kim told her and RJ nodded.

"Billy is big on gifts," he agreed. Kim snorted.

"You don't know the half of it," she muttered, thinking back to the number of gifts the original blue ranger had doled out since starting Lone Wolf Tech. "He was the one who helped finance Adam's dojo, my gym, Kat's dance studio, Tommy's Lab, Hayley's Café, Aisha's vet clinic, and Bulk and Skull's hotel."

"He helped finance Bulk and Skull's hotel?" RJ asked in surprise and Kim nodded.

"Turns out one of the reasons they stopped trying to damask us was cause they figured out who we were and couldn't bring themselves to do that to us," she told him and RJ just looked at her in surprise. He'd never spent a whole lot of time with the two former bullies and hadn't seen them after Kim left for Florida.

"It's a laptop!" Theo exclaimed in surprise, causing the two siblings to turn to the four teens. Each had opened their boxes, and multicolored wrapping paper surrounded them as each held a laptop in hand. Casey's was red, with the black outline of a stalking tiger on the cover, Theo's was blue with the black outline of a lounging jaguar and Lily's was yellow with the outline of a running cheetah. Fran's, on the other hand, was green with the outline of a closed book. While the three rangers had their names etched in black underneath their animals, Fran's name was located on the front of the book.

RJ's eyes lit up and he quickly grabbed the box for him. Kim just laughed as the five exclaimed over their laptops.

"Hey, what's this?" Theo asked curiously, unearthing a thin spiral bound sheath of papers. Kim grinned.

"That, my dear blue ranger is how to access AlphaNet," she told him. They all looked up at her in surprise. Kim grinned.

"In addition to all the normal functions of a lappy, each specialized laptop Billy sends out to rangers and allies can access the AlphaNet, which is basically a secure network for us. You have a specialized email within the network and chances are your address books are probably already updated with all the email addresses of each ranger. The network also has a special chat room for us all, a video conferencing system, and access to the Ranger Fan Website, which is where we get all fan emails," she told them. "You can also access the monster database from your lappy so if you come up with a monster that seems familiar but you can't figure out where, you can look and check that its not an old monster re-animated."

"Sweet!" Casey grinned, and the five scrambled to find outlets to turn their laptops on. Kim just grinned as she took in the four teens had grabbed the corners and RJ had manhandled his way to use one of the main floor outlets.

"It's asking for a login name and password," RJ called out questioningly. Kim smiled.

"The password will be 'may the power protect you'" she told them with a grin. "All lowercase, no spaces. You're expected to change it yourself. The login names should be your color and animal. Fran, RJ's, yours are probably written in your AlphaNet access pamphlets."

"Junglegirl," Fran read aloud with a giggle.

"Purplewolf?" RJ asked curiously and Kim just shrugged.

"Billy has an amazing memory—chances are he remembered your favorite color," she told him. "And since bluewolf, yellowwolf, lunarwolf, and warriorwolf are already taken…,"

"Got it," he nodded, turning back to his laptop.

"What's your login?" Casey asked curiously and Kim smiled.

"Pinkpteracrane," she told him with a grin. RJ looked up, an inquisitive look on his face.

"What's Tommy's?" he asked and Kim snickered.

"Originally it was greenlightning," she told him. "When he went dino man on us, though, Billy went in and changed it to blackdragon, despite Rocky and Jason's insistence that it should be blackchristmas."

RJ let out a bark of laughter.

"Woah," Casey breathed out a few minutes later. Kim glanced at him from where she was fiddling with her own laptop, pink with a black crane on the front.

"What?" she asked and he looked up, shocked.

"My inbox has fifteen emails already," he told her and she nodded.

"Probably former reds," she told him as Lily and Theo exchanged excited looks.

"I have a bunch too!" Theo grinned and Lily beamed at everyone.

"Me too," Fran's voice was slightly incredulous and Kim grinned at the flabbergasted girl.

"Who are they from?" she asked.

"DinoTechLady, GreenSamurai, Alpha5, Alpha6, Alpha7, Skullovitch, Bulkmeiyer, LightspeedTech, FlowerLady, PinkNinja, OrangeNinja, XtremeLady, AceReporter, GameReporter, NotaDinoMutant, PrincipalElsa, RockStore, VampQueen, Gatekeeper, SolarisKnight, Spencer, and Rescuer," she read off and Kim grinned.

"Almost all of them were allies, though a few I recognize as former rangers," she told her with a smile. She turned to RJ. "Yours will most likely be from mentors."

* * *

"Hey Pinky," Jason greeted his best friend. Kim pounced on him, jumping into his arms. The original red ranger laughed as those around the park just looked on in amusement. She had gone on her morning jog alone as the three rangers, Fran, and RJ were still amusing themselves with their new gifts. The four teens had been highly intrigued with the chat program, each having met various people as they popped in and out. Fran had actually spent over two hours chatting with Clare while Casey had been talking with various reds at once. Lily had taken great delight in chatting with Kira and Tori about being the only females of their teams and Theo had spent several hours discussing various ideas with Cam, Billy, Hayley, and Ethan. RJ had read his various emails and then went to Zen on whatever it was he'd been told.

"What are you doing here?" she asked once he had settled her back down. Jason shrugged.

"Heard what happened through the grapevine, got your email, came to see how you were doing," he told her with a grin. She smiled slightly.

"I keep arguing that I'm not Tommy but no one seems to agree with me," she told him as they began walking. Jason chuckled.

"I know your not," he told her with a grin. "I don't think we'll be seeing you in new spandex anytime soon."

"Thank god someone else agrees with me on that," she smiled. Jason chuckled again.

"So Tommy mentioned something about your dad?" he asked and Kim made a face.

"Turns out he's a Pua Zhua master of the Shark spirit," she told him grumpily. Jason gave a wry smile.

"Oh the irony," he replied and she snorted.

"Tell me about it," she sighed. Jason studied her for a minute.

"You haven't hashed things out, have you?" he asked and she shook her head.

"He took off before we could," she told him. Jason grimaced.

"Still doing the avoidance game, then?" he asked, knowing her family situation better than any of their other friends. Kim nodded.

"Though I don't know why; it's not like I don't know his major secret now," she said. Jason smiled slightly.

"He's spent years hiding it to find out it was all for naught," he pointed out, "Give him time to adjust."

"I know," she sighed. "I just want it over and done with."

"I bet," he grinned. Kim pushed him slightly.

"So whats up with you?" she asked and he let out a breath.

"Emily and I are officially over for good," he told her quietly. Kim gave him a sympathetic smile; he and Emily had been together off and on for the past several years.

"For good, for good?" she asked and he nodded.

"I realized a few things the last time around," he told her with a pained smile. Kim frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked and he shrugged.

"I did love her, but not in the way she needed me too," he replied. "And more than anything, I loved the life she represented."

"And what kind of life was that?" she asked, somewhat knowingly.

"A life free of an inner ranger," he admitted. Kim smiled wryly. She knew intimately what he meant; she'd spent nearly ten years running from her inner ranger before realizing she couldn't escape her. Every one of the original rangers did, though some embraced their inner ranger quicker than others. She and Jason were the last ones to do so; even Tommy had accepted the fact he would forever be the Power's bitch.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked and he smiled.

"I'm done traveling," he told her. "I'm gonna accept Adam's offer to teach at his dojo."

Kim beamed at him, "I think that's a wonderful idea," she told him with a smile. "Do you need a place to stay? You can use my apartment since I apparently ain't going back for the next several months."

Jason chuckled. "Thanks Kim, Adam offered to put me up till I could find a place but I'd rather stay at your place."

"Then its settled," she nodded. "While I work with RJ and the newbie's, you keep my apartment from going to the dogs."

"And you and I can visit often," he told her with a smile. She looked at him oddly and he smirked.

"Alpha has decided that the teleportation system can be used by the originals for more than just emergencies," he told her. She blinked at him.

"But what about the personal gain issue?" she asked and he shrugged.

"He said that it's not personal gain when it keeps all the rangers in touch and up to date on all the happenings," he told her with a grin.

"Devious little robot," she muttered with an answering smile.

"So, you're coming to dinner tonight with us all," he told her and at her confused look, he elaborated. "The original sixteen are meeting in Angel Grove tonight for dinner."

Kim grinned. "I am so there," she grinned. "I have to plan how to train the newbie's with Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Billy, and Aisha anyway."

"Don't you mean initiate the newbie's?" he asked knowingly and she grinned.

"That too."


	8. CH 8: It's The End of the World

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **Enjoy!

* * *

Kimberly was yawning as she softly padded into her room. The rangers had all retired to their respected sleeping areas for the night, with Fran staying the night with Lily. RJ was taking a shower. Sighing, she thought back to her brother.

He'd been acting oddly ever since they had saved him from Dai Shi and the lizard lady. Whenever he didn't think anyone was looking, he would grab his chest, rubbing it slightly as he winced in apparent pain. Kim had debated calling for her father or even one of the other masters but was putting it off. She was supposed to be the second master to this team, the one with the ranger experience; she couldn't be calling for her father every ten seconds.

A brief but blinding splash of red, white, and gold light lit up her room before condensing into Jason's familiar form. Kim made a face but didn't comment. Ever since Alpha had made the pronouncement they could use the teleportation system to visit, the original sixteen had been popping up everywhere.

Kim hadn't really used it outside of the dinner and helping Jason get settled but knew that Tommy and Hayley had used the system to go watch Kira's first major concert in New York while Billy and Katherine had gone to help Tanya cheer on Zack at his own performance on Broadway. Kim herself had tickets to go see Zack as Sebastian in the Little Mermaid production for Thursday, baring any unforeseen complications but that was the limit to her use. And due to her asking it, no one save Jason had so far teleported to Oceans Bluff.

"Didn't you mother tell you it's rude to pop up uninvited?" Kim asked and Jason merely smiled and flopped onto the twin size bed. Her bedroom had originally been a storage room but RJ and Casey had cleaned it out while she had taken the girls with her to Angel Grove, leaving Theo, Swoop, and Phant to run the Parlor. Her father had already taken off by then.

"So what's up?" she asked, moving to the desk and her laptop. A few quick clicks and the sounds of Kira's first album softly filled the room. Almost every former had shown support for the Yellow Dino Ranger and had went and bought her CD the day it came out. Well, everyone except Adam who had been beyond upset when every store he went to in Angel Grove had been sold out.

"Adam and Alpha are going to drive me up the wall," Jason groaned. Kimberly snickered.

"Alpha asked to stay the night again?" she asked curiously and he grunted.

"No, he was wondering if he could run some tests on the T-rex powers," he told her, one arm above his eyes. Kim giggled as she went around, lighting candles. Almost every night before bed she meditated, something she had picked up from her brother. Over the years she had discovered that the more soothing, comfortable setting she had, the easier the meditation would come. Even when she wasn't going to meditate, she still tended to light the candles to relax herself.

"Is that vanilla?" Jason asked quietly and Kimberly nodded, looking amused as she finished lighting the lavender candle on her nightstand.

"I thought you were out?" he asked, sitting up. Kim smiled slightly.

"Casey heard me complaining about my lack of Vanilla candles and went and bought me some," she told him quietly. "I'd be worried about a crush if it weren't for the fact RJ apparently talked to him and he's decided I'm a sister."

"That's comforting," he teased and she swatted at him. He grabbed her hand and with a grin pulled her down. Within minutes, the two were rolling around, trying to stifle their laughter as they tickled each other. Finally, with a flip of his legs, Kimberly fell onto her back, Jason towering over her as he held her hands above her head.

"I win," Jason smirked smugly down at her. Kimberly stuck her tongue out at him just as the door creaked open.

"Am I hearing the deep laughter of a certain red ranger best friend of my sisters?" RJ asked as he poked his head in. Jason and Kim both looked at him for a moment before turning to look at each other again. With a grin, Jason leaned down and gingerly kissed her forehead before climbing off the bed.

"Hey Rage," the red ranger greeted him with a smile. RJ grinned back, his eyes lingering on his sister who was leaning up from the bed as she smoothed down her pink tank top. His eyes snapped and he abruptly turned to the red ranger.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, but we have work in the morning," he told him, giving a forced smile. Jason nodded, looking abashed as Kimberly just rolled her eyes. She knew what was going on in her brother's mind.

"One, I am nearly thirty and what I do in my bedroom is none of your concern, Rage," she snapped, getting up from the bed. Jason's eyes rounded as he finally caught onto what had upset her brother. "And two, Jason has been my best friend since I was six. We like to tickle, get over it."

She could see her brother was biting his lip to keep from saying anything back and for that she was grateful; she was already highly agitated and was likely to blow up if he said what was really on his mind.

Finally, he sighed. "I know, I just, with the cubs here, I'd rather not anything happen," explained gingerly. Kim sighed, knowing he was right. Jason nodded.

"Look man, I understand. Not everyone knows Kim and I as well as you do and I know they could see something else," he agreed. "We'll be more careful from now on."

RJ nodded his thanks and slipped from the room. Jason and Kim looked at each other. Jason cracked a smile. "He was right, though, we both have work in the morning," he told her with a sad smile. Kimberly made a face.

"Waitressing, joy," she snarked and he chuckled.

"Come here," he ordered, pulling her into a hug. She sighed happily as he wound his arms around her. "You're gonna do great, Kimmie, I have no doubts of that."

"I hope so," she murmured into his chest. His arms tightened as his chin rested on top of her head.

"Kim, out of all of us, it wasn't Tommy I saw as eventually mentoring a team, it was you," he told her quietly. "You have the patience, the maturity, and the wit to keep up with a new team and to keep them focused but happy. I know you're gonna do great."

"Thanks, Jason. You have no idea how much that means to me," she told him, looking up with a smile. He smiled back and bent down to kiss her forehead again. Only, due to several things, the least of which was a gentle telekinetic nudge by a spying Cheetah cub, Jason's lips didn't settle on her forehead.

They settled on her lips.

They both froze; lips pressed gently together, eyes wide as they stared at each other. Abruptly, Jason pulled back, dropping his arms as he did so.

"Kim, I'm sorry, I didn't," her stammered and Kim nodded, still looking stunned. The original red ranger swallowed. "I think I should go."

Kim nodded again, unable to speak. With a pained smile, Jason gingerly pressed a finger to his wrist band and with a flash of light, disappeared. Kim gingerly sat on the bed, one hand coming to rest on her lips. Eyes still wide in surprise, she gazed at a picture on her mantle-piece of herself and Jason back in high school. Finally, she said the only thing that came to mind.

"Wow."

* * *

"So, you three ready for you training?" Kim asked when the three teens walked in. It was Saturday, two days after Lily's apparent walk on the bad girl side. Kimberly, who had heard all about the incident from a still slightly gob smacked Casey, had not been in Oceans Bluff for the spectacle; she'd been spending the day in New York, trying to dislodge any and all thoughts of Jason from her mind as she and Trini shopped and watched Zack in The Little Mermaid. Both original rangers had agreed that while Zack made an excellent Sebastian, it was highly odd to see the first black ranger dressed almost head to toe in red.

"Uh…" was the response she got. Kimberly stood up from where she had been stretching, her pink ninjetti uniform falling back into place. Casey, Theo, and Lily exchanged semi-panicked looks. The red ranger abruptly shook it off and turned to face Kim fully.

"So, whats on the agenda?" Casey asked brightly. A snort made the three teens jump and they looked around to find five more warriors in the loft, all dressed like Kimberly but with different colors. They immediately recognized Adam as he had helped Kim with RJ but the others were unknown.

"Casey, Theo, Lily, meet my team," she told them as the five ninjetti came to stand behind her.

"Tommy, Master Con; Adam, Master Anura; Rocky, Master Swing; Aisha, Master Mama, and Billy, Master Lune," she introduced the five. Lily stared at the yellow clad woman.

"Master Mama?" she couldn't help but ask and the group of ninjetti tittered.

"Cause I'm a mama bear," Aisha explained with a smile, pulling down her mouth guard and hood. The rest did the same.

"I asked them to come and help me with you three," Kim explained and the three cubs nodded, straightening. "Theo, you're gonna go with Adam and Billy, Casey, you're with Rocky and Tommy, Lily, you're with me and Aisha."

"Wait, you're training us separately?" Theo asked and Billy nodded.

"For now," he agreed and Casey shrugged.

"Alright, let's do it!" he grinned. Tommy rolled his eyes and motioned for the red ranger to follow him and Rocky.

"Let's go, Tiger," he said and then froze along with the other five ninjetti as his words fully registered. Kimberly was the first to snicker, followed quickly by Billy, Adam, Aisha, and finally Rocky. Tommy simply sighed as the three cubs looked on in confusion.

"I'll explain later," he told the red ranger and Casey nodded slowly. Still chuckling, Billy and Adam motioned for the blue ranger to go with them while Aisha and Kim grinned at Lily. The yellow ranger gulped.

* * *

"So whats Kim been telling you guys about us?" Rocky asked. He and Tommy had returned to their civilian clothes and had gotten Casey into non-cub clothes, much to the red ranger's confusion. They were walking down Main Street with no particular destination in mind, at least to Casey's point of view.

"Nothing, actually," he told them honestly. "Except for the random comment or conversation with RJ, we don't know a whole lot about you guys."

"What kinda of random comments?" Tommy asked curiously, adjusting his glasses. Casey shrugged.

"Little things that make the two of them grin but confuse Theo, Lily, Fran, and I," he replied. Tommy snorted and Rocky snickered.

"You'll get used to that, unfortunately," Tommy told him with a small grin.

"I will?" Cased asked, not particularly enthused with the idea. Tommy and Rocky both nodded wryly.

"Oh yeah," Rocky agreed. Tommy's eyes crinkled.

"I dated her for two years and I still don't get half the things she and RJ find funny," he smirked. Rocky snorted.

"That's 'cause you don't want to understand, bro," he pointed out. "Mainly cause half the stuff is making fun of you."

"Yeah, well, I've gotten use to being the butt of everyone's jokes," Tommy replied dryly, causing Rocky to snicker. Casey frowned in confusion.

"I'm thinking it's not just a Kim and RJ thing," he muttered, half to himself. The older rangers stopped and looked at Casey. The red ranger squirmed slightly at their thoughtful stares.

"You know, I think there's hope for you yet," Rocky finally murmured, grinning at him. Casey smiled back as Tommy snorted in amusement.

"Well, you are definitely one of Kim and RJ's students," he said with a smirk. Casey grinned.

"That I am," he agreed, proud of that fact. Tommy chuckled.

"Looks like Jase was right," he told Rocky, who snickered. "They flocked to her."

"Are you really that surprised?" Rocky asked as Casey looked on in interest. "Kim was already half mentor back when we were still in the spandex."

"True," Tommy agreed.

"So where are we going?" Casey asked, getting back to their training. Tommy and Rocky exchanged smirks and the red ninjetti pointed. Casey followed his finger.

"The park?" he asked and they both nodded. Casey's brow furrowed as his eyes caught sight of a small knot of people in red shirts running around on one of the basketball courts. He blinked and looked up to find both older rangers grinning.

"You game?" Rocky asked, tilting his head to the game that stopped when they came into sight. Casey saw Mack Hartford and Andros Dante amongst the group and smirked.

"Oh yeah," he agreed. Tommy and Rocky laughed and the three reds headed to the courts where Mack, Andros, and three other men waited.

"This him?" Andros asked and Tommy nodded.

"Casey, this is Andros, Wes, Shane, Nick, and Mack," he pointed to each. Casey smiled at them all.

"Hey," he greeted. They all greeted him back. Tommy clapped his hands together.

"Ya'll ready for a game?" he asked and the others nodded. Casey must have looked confused because Mack grinned at him.

"All reds try to get together every so often for a game of basketball," he explained with a smile. "Dr. Oliver probably has more in mind for today but not until the games through."

Casey nodded and allowed himself to be placed on what Rocky dubbed the "Rookie" team with Mack, Nick, and Shane. Casey smiled slightly as Shane ribbed on Tommy, saying they were gonna beat the old geezers. If he could handle RJ's unconventional training, why not Tommy and Rocky's?

"Here goes nothing."

* * *

"Here we are," Billy grinned as he, Adam, and a slightly disbelieving Theo walked into his office. Theo had been told to change into civilian clothes and then had teleported to Angel Grove with the two older rangers. Looking around, he was surprised at the number of pictures adorning the walls and available surfaces.

"The girls saw this place when I first moved into the building and within a week it looked like this," Billy told him, smiling. Theo smiled back, still confused.

"So, confused yet?" Adam asked quietly and Theo gingerly nodded. The black and green clothed man chuckled.

"Kim thinks you have it in you to be a great grounder," he told him. Theo frowned, confused.

"Traditionally, each ranger team has inner team designations," Billy told him, picking up a remote and pressing a button. A clicking sound told Theo that the door had been locked for privacy.

"You have your traditional leader," Adam picked up. "But there are more."

"For the original six, it was obvious who was who," Billy told him. "Jason was leader, Trini was mediator, Zack was comic relief, I was the techie, Kim was the medic, and Tommy was the grounder."

"What's a grounder?" Theo asked tentively. Adam smiled.

"A grounder is someone who keeps the team grounded, focused," Adam told him. "Each grounder has different ways of doing that."

"Tommy, for instance, had this uncanny ability to keep things in perspective in his mind and make us see that," Billy told him. "Whenever things got out of hand, we could count on him to point out issues within the team and outside the team and could do so without annoying any of us. That's one of the reasons he and Jason worked so well together."

"When I joined the team with Rocky and Aisha, things got messed up a bit for a while," Adam told him. "Everyone's designation got switched except Kim and Billy's."

"I was still techie and Kim was still medic but Tommy became leader. This lead to a major issue with who was who among those three," Billy told him with a smile.

"Eventually, I settled into the role of grounder, Aisha became mediator, and Rocky was comic relief," Adam told him with a grin. "Not that the latter surprised anyone."

"Why are you telling me this?" Theo asked and the two older rangers exchanged grins.

"Because you're gonna end up with two designations for a while and when things change, as they most definitely will, you're gonna have to pick up the slack as grounder," Adam told him seriously.

"Being a grounder isn't a bad thing and Kim wants us also to train you up as a techie," Billy told him. Theo looked surprised.

"But RJ is the one with the tech experience," he argued and Billy smiled wryly.

"For your section of the grid, yeah, but what I'm planning on working with you on isn't about your area of the grid, it's the grid itself," he told him.

"And I'm gonna work on techniques to point out issues within the team," Adam added. "Techniques that won't get you in trouble with your friends."

Theo swallowed and nodded. This wasn't the training he had had in mind when he'd helped Casey and Lily convince Kim to train them but if she thought it was worth learning…

"Alright, where do we start?"

* * *

"How is painting our nails gonna help train me?" Lily asked, amusedly, as the two older woman set up bottle after bottle of nail polish on the floor of the loft. Kim had told RJ and Fran that unless absolutely necessary, they were to stay downstairs for the day. Fran had agreed easily but RJ had argued for a bit until he'd withered under his sister's glare.

"We're not doing our nails," Aisha told the younger girl with a grin.

"Yet," Kim added with a meaningful look at the yellow ninjetti. Aisha snickered but didn't argue.

"So whats this all for?" she asked tentively and Kim grinned at her.

"Within each team are designations," she told her. "For example, we were the medic and mediator."

"And, since you only have three members of your team, you're gonna end up with both those jobs," Aisha told her kindly. Lily frowned, confused.

"I don't understand," she admitted and Kim smiled.

"Casey is leader, right?" she asked and Lily nodded. "And how often do you have to mediate between the boys?"

"All the time," she admitted, seeing where she was going.

"RJ and I are both gonna mentor you but team medic is gonna fall on your shoulders because Casey won't have time and Theo will have his own issues to deal with."

"Especially after spending a day with Billy and Adam," Aisha snickered and Kim smirked.

"Point is, as team medic, you're gonna need to know how being a ranger changes your body," Kim told the original yellow ranger. "I'll do what I can when I can, but you're gonna end up taking a lot of the medic stuff on yourself. I'm here to mentor you, not baby you."

Lily nodded, seeing the logic in having another person with ranger medical training. She had a feeling RJ didn't know nearly as much about the subject as Kim obviously did.

"So, what are we gonna do?" she asked curiously. Kim grinned and pulled out a piece of paper. Scooting back a bit, she unrolled it to reveal a life size outline of the yellow rangers uniform. Lily bent over it, studying it.

Within the sketch were multi-colored lines, with circles in various locations. The largest of these circles was at the chest, located where the heart was. She gingerly ran a finger over the vibrant yellow line that ran throughout her entire body.

"What is this?" she asked.

"The yellow indicates your morphin energy, which makes everything we're gonna discuss make sense," Kim told her. Lily nodded.

"Like what?" she asked curiously. Kim smiled.

"Have you noticed that you recover a lot quicker in battle? That your stamina, strength, and healing have all increased?" she asked and Lily nodded. "That's due to the Morphin energy, this yellow line. These other colors are subsidiaries of the Morphin power, each with a specific task."

"The pink, for example, is the strength of your stamina while the red is your physical strength and the blue is your mental strength," Aisha told her, pulling out a scanner from her bag. She turned it on and handed it to Lily. Looking at it, she was surprised to find it was a picture of herself as she sat there, only multi-colored lines flowed throughout her body. Off to the side, a bar graph showed that each color was at 100.

"What happens if it goes to zero percent?" she asked and looked up in time to see Kim and Aisha exchange a look.

"You die," Kim told her softly and Lily nodded, swallowing.

"If you're morphed and all of your levels get below fifty percent, you'll involuntarily demorph," Aisha told her. Lily nodded; she remembered those times with a grimace.

"Ready to learn what each means and how they work together to keep you going?" Kim asked, knowing it was a lot to take in. Lily took a deep breath and nodded.

"Lets get to work."

* * *

"The Grid is different for each team," Billy told Theo. They were in Billy's private conference room. The doors were locked, blinds drawn. A projector screen showed several images, including what looked like a giant rock.

"For the Dino Thunder Rangers, the Grid was a prehistoric rock," Billy said, bringing the picture of said rock to the forefront.

"For the Overdrive Rangers, it was a complex computer that Alpha could physically go into," Adam added.

"Yours is a sub-space jungle with various pedestals for each possible ranger, according to RJ," Billy told him.

"Each possible ranger?" Theo asked and Adam nodded.

"Each team has an infinite number of rangers possible, depending on the outlets," he told him. "Most teams have no more than six but others have been known to have upwards to ten at a time."

"The more rangers, though, the greater the strain on the outlets and the sub-grid that team is working from," Billy added.

"Almost every animal based team can have one ranger for each animal," Adam said.

"Theoretically, anyway," Billy added and Theo nodded.

"If we wanted, we could probably have more ninjetti than us six but because of how our powers were returned to us, we're not going to unless we have to," Adam informed him with a smile. Theo nodded in understanding; Kim had told them how she had gotten her powers back. The blue ranger couldn't fault the team for not wanting to share that gift with anyone who hadn't know their old mentor.

* * *

"So what do you think the point of this game was?" Tommy asked as the eight reds lounged on the grass. Casey and Mack both groaned.

"Age isn't relevant to winning a game of basketball?" Casey asked. The four rookies had been _slaughtered_ by the older rangers. Tommy, Rocky, Andros, and Wes all chuckled.

"Don't think you're invincible 'cause your younger, fitter, or have ranger powers?" Mack asked and Andros nodded.

"I lost my original team on a devastating attack on my home planet because my teammates got cocky," he told them quietly. "They thought they were invincible because we had kept Dark Spector's forces at bay for so long. They were wrong and they paid for that belief."

"You four didn't play as a team," Wes told them. "That's why we, who _were_ working as a team, were able to beat you so bad."

"I got stuck in amber for a couple weeks and then got stuck in ranger form for a few months after that," Tommy told them with a grimace. "All because I didn't call on my team to go with me to inspect an energy reading. I thought I, as the so called experienced ranger, could take care of it by myself."

"How can you work as a leader though and still be a team player?" Casey asked. Tommy gave him a wry carefully.

"You have to find your own balance," he told him. "Its hard but each red has eventually found it."

"Being leader doesn't mean you take everything on yourself," Shane agreed. "It means being able to make the difficult decisions after discussing it with your team."

"It means taking everyone's advice and input and using that to make your final decision," Wes agreed. "Just because _you_ think something should be done a certain way doesn't mean that you're right."

"And don't give up; your friends may have ideas you haven't thought of," Rocky added. Nick nodded.

"And it saves you the trouble of getting yelled at by your blue teammate," he added ruefully. Tommy and Rocky snickered; they'd heard all about that incidence from a highly amused Rita.

"Don't forget to have fun," Rocky added. "The worst thing you can do is to get so focused on the battle that you forget why you're fighting in the first place."

"Find something to fight for and cling to it," Tommy added. "When I first started, I cling to the belief of atonement for my actions when I was evil. Eventually, I fought for my friends and family, for those I loved."

"I fought for a better future for my friends and myself," Wes added with a grin. "Which is ironic since my teammates were from that future."

The group all snickered.

"At first, I fought to prove I was _able_ to be red ranger," Mack said. "After that, I fought to prove that I was more than just an android."

"And it led to your gift of humanity," Andros added and Mack grinned.

"Yup!"

"I fought for the first group of true friends I'd ever had," Nick told them. "They believed in me even when I didn't."

"So what do you have to fight for?" Tommy asked, turning to Casey. The Red Jungle Fury Ranger swallowed as they all turned to him. He looked down, thinking. Finally, he smiled and looked up.

"I fight to protect my friends, my family," he said quietly. "I fight to prove Master Mao wasn't wrong about me, that I can do this."

"I fight because I can," he smiled. Tommy nodded approvingly.

"And that will make you a great red ranger," he told him and the others nodded. Casey smiled slightly.

"I hope so."

* * *

"Okay, _that, _was not Pua Zhua training," Theo commented once they had all returned that night. He had greatly enjoyed hanging out with Billy and Adam and learning everything about the grid but was still confused as to the whole point.

"It really wasn't," Lily agreed. While she had had a blast, what she had been taught was not something she expected to ever learn as a Pua Zhua. Off to the side, RJ and Fran just looked on curiously. Kim was with the other ninjetti downstairs saying goodbye.

"That's 'cause it wasn't Pua Zhua training," Casey, still hyped up from his day with Tommy, Rocky, and the other reds, grinned at them. At Theo and Lily's confused looks, Casey's grin widened.

"_That_ was Ranger training."


	9. CH 9: Who Let The Dogs Out?

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **Enjoy!

* * *

Kim was doing the dishes when RJ wandered downstairs, a pensive expression on his face. Kim smiled at him. "Whats up, bro?"

"Labels, Kim?" he asked disapprovingly. Kim smiled slightly.

"You heard about the training?" she asked and he nodded.

"While I get that you're gonna teach them the ranger part, why labels?" he asked. Kim sighed.

"First of all, you know I hate labels just as much as you do," she pointed out and he nodded.  
"I've fought over being labeled my whole life."

"So why with the labels now?"

"Well," she hesitated. "It wasn't that we stuck them with the labels. It's just, we've been rangers and onlookers for so long that we can tell who's gonna end up as what and we wanted to try and head off some of the problems we had."

"But why _tell_ them about the labels?" RJ persisted, his expression confused. Kim smiled.

"Because it's an official ranger thing, not just something we came up with on the fly," she told him, grabbing another plate from the water.

"What do you mean?"

"When Billy spent those two years on Aquitar, he learned a LOT about the powers that we hadn't known before," she told him. "The least of which was how the Grid really works."

"Wait, Aquitar?" RJ cut in with a frown. Kim paused.

"Different planet where the people are related to fish," she explained. "Billy fell for one of their medics and stayed. It was this whole big thing."

"I see," RJ murmured, looking surprised.

"Anyway, there are certain…requirements….to be a ranger and to have a team of rangers," she said. "You got very lucky Hartford was able to connect the glasses to the Grid. If your team dynamics had been even slightly off, the Power would have rejected the cubs."

"Woah," he murmured and Kim nodded.

"But the Power is sentient and cosmic and according to Billy, it can usually tell who's gonna end up with a power before the person does," Kim told him with a wry smile. "That's why so many random morphers have a tendency to pop up. Essentially the Power is working its will so what has to happen, happens."

"Ahh," he looked as if something had just become clear to him and Kim raised a curious eyebrow. He waved her away with his hand, shaking his head. Kim shrugged.

"Anyway, the basic team requirements are always the same. You must have one person for each so-called label, even if they're keeping two labels," Kim told him. "That's how scientists are able to create powers, though Billy swears the Grid usually helps it along in cases where the Morphers are truly needed."

"How so?" he asked, eyes flicking up the stairs.

"Lightspeed Rescue wasn't even close to creating rangers three months before Carter, Chad, Joel, Kelsey, and Dana were brought in," she told him. "But suddenly, Angela got hit with inspiration after inspiration and three months later Mariner Bay had a new team."

"Woah," RJ murmured and Kim nodded.

"We had been keeping an eye on the project since we first heard about it," she told him. "We have what Trey of Triforia calls a 'Double Triumvirate Council' to deal with Ranger matters. Billy, Cassie, Dana, Taylor, Ethan, and Mack are that group as of right now."

"Dude…," he trailed off and Kim smiled.

"So, point is, from what I saw, what we taught them was what they were gonna need as they fully settled into the roles they had taken. We didn't label them; we simply told them the terms for what they had already noticed," she informed him with a smile and he nodded.

* * *

"So, you three ready for another fun-filled day of training?" Kim asked an hour later as she eyed the three students. It was the one day they remained closed and Kim was going to train the teens while RJ taught Fran the basics of his tech center, something Kimberly had insisted upon.

"What?" Casey asked, surprised and Kim smirked.

"You two are gonna spend the morning with me while Lily works with Fran and RJ. Then, after lunch, you two are gonna go spend a few hours with Billy while I take Theo to do the grocery shopping," she informed them with a smile. The three exchanged surprised looks and Kimberly grinned.

"What? You thought just because we told you what positions you'd more or less found yourself in that we'd let you go without knowing the others?" she asked rhetorically and the three blushed. Kim smirked.

"You don't get off that easily."

* * *

Kim and Theo were getting gas when Kim saw it. A warehouse with a giant for sale sign. Pursing her lips, she moved away from the car and towards the building where a man was unlocking the doors with two older people.

"Excuse me, have you sold this place yet?" she asked and the man turned around with a smile on his face. When he saw her, however, his expression fell.

"No, and I don't think you would be able to afford it," he told her bluntly, causing the couple to shoot him surprised looks. Kim simply rolled her eyes as she felt Theo bristle next to her.

"That's too bad, I'm trying to find a new building for a gymnastics academy," she told him with a shrug. "You know, I want to branch out a bit, give the girls the choice of staying in Angel Grove or moving to Oceans Bluff."

"You own a gymnastics academy?" he asked, skeptical. Theo snorted at her side.

"This is Kimberly Hart, three time Olympic medalist, four time Pan Global medalist, and six of her girls have placed at the national and international levels with her coaching them. She was also Sports Illustrated Athlete and Coach of the year several times," he told him disdainfully. Kim elbowed him, causing Theo to grunt.

"Oh, my granddaughter adores you!" the woman exclaimed, moving forward to shake her hand. As Kim smiled at the couple, Theo smiled smugly at the bewildered man. Hiding a smirk, Kim allowed herself to be pulled away by the self-satisfied blue ranger.

"Come on Kim, we can find someplace else to build you new academy," Theo said loudly and Kim snickered under her breath. "Though I don't know why you don't just build an entirely new facility, you have the money and the resources."

When Kim was back at the car, she looked over her shoulder at the man and had to stifle a laugh; he was looking wistfully in her direction and the original pink ranger could almost see the decaying dollar signs in his eyes. Shaking her head, she got in the car. Once Theo was settled on the passenger side, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, causing him to blush.

"Thank you for doing that, Theo, it was very sweet," she informed him with a smile. Theo ducked his head and Kim giggled.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Rage?" Kim asked worriedly the next morning. Casey and Theo were in the kitchen getting ready for lunch while Lily and Fran worked in the front. The blue ranger shook his head.

"Not since last night," he told her. Kim bit her lip worriedly.

"Don't worry, Kim, you know RJ," he told her. "He's probably off communing with the wolves or something."

"Maya's on Mironoi, Billy's in Angel Grove, Merrick's...somewhere, and Leanbow's in Avalon, so I doubt he's communing," she murmured absently in reply. Casey and Theo exchanged amused looks but didn't say anything; they had learned quickly it was better that way.

* * *

"I never thought I'd see the day my little brother would run away," Kimberly said. She'd gone up with Fran to find her brother packing a knapsack and looking rather guilty. With a look, she motioned for Fran to leave. With a worried look at the wolf master, she did.

"Kim," he started but shut his mouth at her look.

"Rage, what's going on? I'm your sister, your fellow mentor, I deserve to know," she informed him coolly.

"It's my animal spirit," he finally told her reluctantly. "Ever since Dai Shi attacked me, I can't control my animal form."

"So you're running away instead of asking the rangers for help?"

"They wouldn't focus on Dai Shi if they knew," he reminded her. "I just need some distance, just until I'm back in balance,"

He moved towards the door. "Until then, trust me, I'm a major hazmat around here."

"You can't abandon them RJ, you can't abandon me," she told him quietly, making him stop. His entire body was tense but he didn't turn around.

"I'll hurt you all if I stay," he whispered.

"Abandonment leaves scars deeper than the eye can see," she told him, her voice filled with pain. He hesitated but finally left without looking back. Kim stared at the door, willing him to come back but knowing in her heart that her brother would rather die than stay and possibly harm her, Fran, and/or his students.

"Good luck bro."

* * *

"Being in animal form is too powerful for the human spirit to handle," RJ told them, holding his chest as Fran applied a cold towel to his forhead. Off in the corner, Kim leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, her expression neutral. "If I stay there too long, that fur? Doesn't go away."

"You mean…you'd be stuck?" Theo asked worriedly and RJ nodded.

"Well, unless you can crawl into my head, this is one mess only I can undo," he told them when they informed him he was going to have to reclaim control.

"Lil, stay with RJ--" Casey started but Kim decided enough was enough.

"Fran and I will stay with him, you're gonna need all three of you to deal with the insane monkey," she told them quietly. The three rangers nodded, taking off. Soon after, Fran left as well to get water, leaving the two siblings alone.

"You and I are gonna have a very long talk later, buddy," Kim informed him coolly. RJ shot her a disgruntled look.

"Can we not do this right now, sister-mine? I don't feel so good," he asked pleadingly before staring at his hand in horror. Kim straightened, staring at him as he slowly transformed with a scream. Looking grim, she silently transformed. He turned to her with a snarl. She glared at the monster impersonating her brother.

"Alright, Requiem, you want a fight, you'll get a fight."


	10. CH 10: Brand New Day

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **Enjoy!

* * *

"You know, I prefer a brother who calls me shorty or midget or who steals my chocolate or who gets overprotective when I date," Kimberly grumbled to herself as she stumbled to her feet from getting thrown up at the roof and crashing on the basketball court floor. She glared at the werewolf. "Instead I get a brother who is stuck as a werewolf and it's NOT EVEN A FREAKIN' FULL MOON!"

RJ howled at her and rushed. With a strangled "eep," she dodged out of the way only to find her brother standing over her when she got back up. She cursed as he picked her up and threw her up into one of the beams.

"Okay, that's it, I'm getting fat so no one can pick me up and toss me into ceilings cause this? Is getting ridiculous," she muttered as RJ stalked forward. Kim jumped over his head, kicking into his back as she did so. He shot forward into the wall before bouncing off and to the floor. Wincing, Kimberly watched him warily. He shook his head and turned back to her with a growl. She sighed and motioned for him to come.

"At least this didn't happen back before I got back into the swing of things," she muttered as she dodged his swipe. Snapping her foot out to connect with his face, she scolded him as he held onto his muzzle.

"It's not nice to try and bite people, RJ, especially when they're trying to--AHHH!" she screamed as her brother pounced and tossed her in the air again. Sighing in annoyance, she landed on the floor and ducked his subsequent swipe.

"RJ, why are you just throwing me into the air? I'm a freakin BIRD!" she reminded him. "Throwing me into the air gives me a second wind—literally!"

Ignoring her comment, as he had all of her jibes, he sprung onto her, grabbing her neck and squeezing. Eyes bulging, she brought her knee up and in direct contact of his groin. With a howl, he leapt away, whimpering.

"Sorry, Rage, but whats a little pain to killing your sister?" she asked with a cringe as she struggled to her feet.

Growling louder than ever, he attacked. Sliding away at the last minute using sight to sight teleportation, her brother stumbled. Not giving herself time to gloat, the pink ninjetti ran for the door and locked it so he wouldn't be able to go down and hurt Fran or any of the customers. Turning around, she gasped as he brother's muzzle was inches from her face.

"Nice doggy," she whimpered slightly and he cocked his head to the side. He stared at her and sniffed as she stared back, not moving a muscle. Don't bite me, don't bite me, please don't bite me!

Suddenly and without warning, he pulled away and fell to his knees. Kim dropped next to him, grabbing his arm.

"RJ…?" she whispered and with a pained groan, everything but his eyes transferred back. As the wolf stared at her from her brothers' face, she swallowed.

"Pack," he whispered, his voice hoarse. Kim's eyes widened and she nodded, grabbing his hand.

"I prefer the term family but yeah, that's what we are Rage, pack," she agreed quickly and sighed in relief as the Wolf faded. RJ stared at her in disbelief.

"Its gone," he whispered, struggling to his feet. "I'm back in control!" he exclaimed and then grunted when Kim launched herself at him.

"Don't ever do that again, Rage, cause I just mighthurt you next time," she murmured and he nodded against her hood.

"I need to go help the rest of the pack," he murmured, pulling away. Kim frowned at the term but didn't comment.

"Be careful," she whispered as he left, a box in hand. Idly wondering what the box contained, she went and called for Fran to come back up and the two settled in front of the screen. At Fran's worried look about Kim sitting in RJ's chair, Kim smirked.

"Don't worry, Fran, my brother owes me," she told her and Fran nodded, deciding not to ask.

"Maybe I can give you the challenge you're looking for!" RJ grinned at the monster on the screen. Kim leaned forward when he opened the box. He pulled out a morpher and slapped it on his wrist. As her younger brother morphed into the first purple ranger, Kimberly could only gape.

"Come on guys, let's go help him!" Casey cried onscreen and Kim grabbed the communicator.

"No, guys leave him to it. RJ won't be happy if you interfere—this is his chance to make amends for the unneeded guilt he has," she told them. Casey nodded.

"Alright, unless he needs it, we'll stay off to the side," he agreed and Kim nodded.

As the monster re-exploded, Kim suddenly giggled. Fran looked at her curiously and Kim smirked.

"I can't wait till Dad finds out both his kids ended up rangers."

* * *

"RJ?" Theo called out worriedly. Kim and RJ looked down from the kitchenette and saw the four teens looking at the wolf Merrick had dropped off that morning in horror.

"Uh, don't worry RJ, I'll brush you everyday," Casey told the wolf. The two siblings exchanged amused looks as they stood up and walked to the railing.

"And you can have all the pizza you want," Lily added.

"And a flea bath once a month," Theo added in disgust, blowing on his hands. Kim snickered at her brother's disgusted face.

"Uh ix-nay on the flea bath," he told them and the four teens looked up at them in surprise. "But the pizza and getting brushed everyday? That sounds great!"

"And people say I'm obsessed with my hair," Kim muttered. Her brother ignored her and made his way downstairs.

"Come on, Nikki, it is definitely time to go home," RJ informed the animal as the teens looked on in amusement. "I've just been dog sitting."

"Not very well by the looks of it," Kim said with a smirk. RJ stuck his tongue out and grabbed Nikki's leash. As the four rangers and one bookworm left the loft, Kim looked around and then back at their retreating forms.

"I am NOT cleaning this up!"


	11. CH 11: Sick Inside

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**TimeLine:** Set after One Master Too Many

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Kim, are you okay?" Fran asked quietly, poking her head in the original pink ranger's room. The teen wrinkled her nose. Kim's room usually smelled like vanilla or lavender but now reminded Fran of a hospital.

"…go 'way…" she heard Kim mumble. Frowning in worry, the brunette gingerly stepped into the room and saw that Kim was bundled up on the bed, only the top of her head not swathed in blankets. Fran gingerly reached out and placed a hand on Kim's head and then jerked back.

"Kim, you're burning up!" she exclaimed but the woman didn't answer. Fran bit her lip and then gingerly pulled the blankets down so she could see Kim's face. She barely held in a gasp. Kim was deathly pale, her eyes were blood shot and her lips blue. "Oh!"

Fran stumbled back and out the room as she ran to find RJ.

* * *

"Is she okay?" Casey pounced on RJ when he finally left Kim's room. The red ranger had told Fran, Theo, and Lily to stay downstairs working but that he was staying up to wait on Kim. It was only the two days after RJ's first morph and he was feeling rather protective of the entire group.

RJ winced. Kim had spent the night before scolding him for not telling her about the Wolf Morpher when she was supposed to be the ranger mentor. She'd told him that creating morphers had side effects on teams, some she wasn't even allowed to tell him about. She'd made him promise to tell her before he made another one, no matter what his instincts told him. Now he could only wonder if his morphing had caused his sister to run a 103 temp and not be able to hold anything down.

"RJ?" Casey asked worriedly and the Wolf Master shook his head of his thoughts. Kim wasn't even a ranger anymore, how could his morphing cause her harm?

"She's really really sick. I'll talk to Fran about helping me care for her--" he was cut off by Casey.

"I'll do it!" he interrupted and then frowned when RJ shook his head.

"It'd be worse if you, Theo, or Lily get sick. Fran can handle herself and isn't needed to fight Dai Shi," he reminded him. Casey scowled bit didn't argue. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the wolf was right. "In the meantime, I'm gonna call Adam."

"Adam?" Casey asked, confused, and RJ nodded.

"He said to call if I needed anything and I know my sister. She's a pain when she's sick," he told the red ranger with a small smile. Casey snickered.

* * *

"Hi."

Adam looked up from wiping Kim's face to find Fran shifting nervously in the doorway. Adam smiled and motioned her forward with his free hand. She stepped forward and handed him a glass of water and RJ's sickness-be-gone herb remedy before sitting down in the chair across from him. Adam quietly thanked her and set the glass aside.

"It's not going to help," he told her when he saw her expression. She looked panicked for a second but calmed at his quick shake of his head. "No, I mean, no remedy is gonna help this. It's a ranger thing."

"A ranger thing?" Fran asked and he nodded.

"It's not something I can talk about but yeah, it's a ranger thing. I went through it myself a year or so ago," he assured her.

"But she'll be okay, right?" she asked hopefully and Adam nodded.

"Yeah, she just has to burn off some excess….energy," he told her and she relaxed against the chair she was sitting on.

"I wish I could help," she muttered and Adam shot her a quick smile.

"You can," he told her. She looked at him hopefully and he smiled gently. "I can't stay much longer but when I leave, if you could make sure she drinks lots of fluids and takes on these capsules every four hours, that'd be great."

He handed her the capsules and Fran nodded, her expression turning determined. Hiding a smile, Adam gently wiped away Kim's bangs and bent down to gently kiss her forehead.

"Take care, Crane," he whispered. Straightening, he shot a quick wink in Fran's direction and then disappeared in a flash of black light just as a white, red, and gold light filled the room. Fran's jaw dropped slightly when a new man, one she hadn't yet met, appeared. He started at her, looking slightly panicked.

"Adam just left," she told him, guessing what he was worried about. "I'm Fran."

"Jason," he greeted her, relaxing as he remembered Kim's fondness for the girl. He took the empty chair and gingerly wiped Kim's face. "She okay?"

"Adam said it's a Ranger thing and that she just needs to burn off excess energy," Fran told him quickly. Jason nodded, looking pensive. He bent down and kissed her forehead just as Adam had done.

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay," he explained as he moved up and back. "I have to go back to work. Call us if anything changes?"

Fran nodded mutely as watched as he disappeared. She waited, curious to see if anyone else was going to pop in. Finally deciding that they would be alone for a time, Fran pulled out a book and began reading out loud. It was something her grandmother used to do when she was sick and it always helped sooth her. She only hoped it would do the same for Kim.

* * *

Kim groaned quietly as she struggled to sit up. She didn't remember going to bed and she had a feeling she had missed a whole lot. She still felt very very ooky but something had been tugging at her and she was determined to find out what it was so she could go back to the blissful arms of sleep. She gingerly looked around, taking in the numerous burned incense sticks, the rather nauseous smell of her brothers herbal remedy's, RJ dosing in a chair while Casey slept at the foot of her bed….

Kim blinked and turned back to her bed. The red ranger was curled up around her comforter covered feet, his arms wrapped around a pillow as he slept. Someone had thrown the end of a large old quilt over the boy while the other end was wrapped around RJ as he slept in the chair next to the red ranger. Kim guessed Lily or Fran had probably thrown the blanket over the two as Kim couldn't see Theo tucking in either guy. Shaking her head slightly, she lay back down, content that her team would always have her back, whether she wanted them to or not.

* * *

"We should go help Theo and Lily." Casey's voice was angry as Kimberly gingerly moved to the entrance to the three bedrooms and the storage room. Kim frowned when she saw her brother and standing by Casey, dressed in a new purple shirt like his students. Idly wondering how long she'd been out, she listened to the conversation.

"A bent arrow doesn't fly straight." RJ responded.

"I'm not a bent arrow," Casey responded, annoyed.

"Fine," RJ agreed before looking at the basketball Casey was holding. "Give me the ball."

Casey grudgingly handed over the ball as Kim leaned against the wall as she waited.

"Here's the deal," RJ said, moving to the back of the room. "To beat Dai Shi, I have to make this shot. Period."

"From there?" Casey asked skeptically as Kim snorted quietly. "Good luck."

"Casey, I'm serious. No 'luck' involved," he told him, his voice for once corresponding with his words. "I have to make it or Dai Shi wins."

Kim watched, bemused, as her brother stood and looked at the basketball hoop. Not understanding what exactly had happened, she nevertheless understood the lesson. As the ball sailed through the air, Kim stared at her cub, thinking only one thing.

_Teammwork._

Kim grinned when he jumped in and slammed the ball into the net. RJ laughed and moved over to him as Casey bounced the ball. "Slam dunk, what did I tell ya!"

"But_ I_ got it in," Casey reminded him and RJ nodded.

"Exactly!" he agreed. "I knew your instincts would kick in and you'd make it happen. That's what leaders do. No luck involved. Casey, everyone has moments when they get kinda…unsure. You just have to trust your instincts and your friends will trust them too."

Kim smiled proudly at her brother as Casey nodded in understanding.

"Gotta go."

As the boys jumped through what Kim had only jokingly been calling the Rabbit Hole, Fran came up, saw Kim, and threw the towels into the air as she dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Kim's middle. Kim teetered slightly before steadying herself and the girl.

"Fran…?" she asked worriedly. Fran looked up at her.

"You were so sick and we didn't know why but Adam and Jason and Billy just said it was a ranger thing but none of us knew what they meant and they said they couldn't tell us cause they weren't allowed to and you were running a really really high temperature and I was so worried cause I need someone to talk to about all the ranger nonsense that isn't a ranger and please don't do that again!" she said.

She then promptly burst into tears.

* * *

"Kimberly!"

Kim and Fran looked up at Casey's shout, Kim still with her arms around Fran. Kim hadn't realized how much the younger girl depended on her to keep her grounded among all the ranger-ness but looking back she shouldn't have been surprised. They were the only two who weren't Pua Zhua or full on rangers and that had created a special bond that she didn't want to severe.

"Hi guys," she greeted them and braced herself when she was nearly tackled by the three teens, Casey at the forefront. Squished in a four way teen hug, Kim looked around.

"I take it ya'll missed me?" she asked, amused.

"Don't do that again!" Casey ordered her from where his nose was buried in her neck.

"Seriously, do you know how much I wanted to strangle these guys cause they turned into mother hens?" Lily asked from next to him, her forehead resting on Kim's cheek. Theo didn't say anything but she felt a tightening around her middle where his arms were while his head was buried in her back. Fran simply sniffled from where she was squished in between Lily and Theo, her head on the other side of Kim's neck from Casey.

"Alright guys, let Kim get some air," RJ finally said, a smile on his face. Immediately, the four teens moved away, though Kim noticed Casey and Fran each kept one arm around her waist.

"How are you feeling?" Theo asked worriedly and Kim smiled.

"I feel like a hundred bucks!" she told them brightly and then withered under her brother's look. "That was thrown in a dryer and set on spin."

"Adam and Jason said it was a ranger thing," Lily mentioned, looking concerned. Kim smiled and laid her head on Casey's shoulder.

"I know, and I wish I can tell you but I can't. I'd endanger too many people if I did," she apologized and the group nodded reluctantly. "Chances are, none of you will have to worry about it happening to you though so don't."

"It's over though, right? You're not going to get sick again?" Casey asked and Kim sighed.

"It'll probably happen one or two more times, I think," she told him with a grimace. "When it does, just call Adam, Tommy, or Billy."


	12. CH 12: Sometimes

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **Hee. The "illness" will be explained, I promise. Also, Kim is kinda OOC in this chapter, but that, too, will be explained. :D

* * *

"Dude, that was…slammin…"

Casey looked at what had deflated RJ's hype. There, standing in the middle of the Loft and looking thunderous, was Kimberly. Just before the battle that had led to RJ getting possessed, Phant and Swoop had dragged the young woman away to train her as a Pua Zhua student since her father was working on something for Mao and couldn't do it himself. They had informed Kim that if she was going to train the cubs as a ranger, she was going to get trained as a Pua Zhua. Kim had grudgingly agreed and left with the intent of being gone for twelve days.

That was a week ago.

"…crap…" Casey muttered quietly and gingerly began backing away. Theo and Lily did the same, confusing Dominic.

"Hey!" RJ greeted her with a worried smile. "Aren't you supposed to be gone for like, five more days?"

"Casey, Theo, Lily, go downstairs and take the Rhino with you," she ordered quietly, no taking her eyes off her brother.

"Come on, Dom, lets go…crap," Casey muttered again as Dominic shook him off. He moved forward, his most charming smile in place as he gently grabbed Kim's hand. RJ rolled his eyes even as Dominic placed a gentle kiss on Kim's knuckles.

"I'm Dominic, beautiful lady," he introduced himself with a roguish grin. Kim simply stared at him, her expression blank despite the anger rolling off her in waves.

"Unless you want to find out firsthand just why the cubs are backing away in fear, I suggest you let go of my person," she informed him coolly and his grin fell. Her eyes flashed pink when he didn't release her fingers. "Now."

He hastily dropped her hand and backed away, as Casey noted that RJ hadn't moved and was watching Kimberly warily. Theo made a disgruntled sound in the back of his throat.

"I'm not scared!" he burst out. Kim raised an eyebrow in the three teens direction.

"Go downstairs," she ordered. The group balked at her tone. Theo shot away, Lily hot on his heels. Casey stayed long enough to drag Dominic with him as he left.

"Kimberly…" RJ began but trailed off when Kim simply looked at him.

"You promised, Requiem," she said, her voice calm. RJ winced; oh yeah, she was _pissed_. She never used his real name unless she was pissed or worried. "You sat in this very Loft and promised me you would not create a new ranger without at least warning me ahead of time."

"I know and I'm sorry," RJ agreed, even as he rushed to defend himself. "But Dom showed up and he found out we were rangers and he wanted to help and--"

"And he nearly got a civilian squished," she interrupted him. "We're here to protect civilians, RJ, not squish 'em!"

"How'd you know about that?" RJ asked, confused. Kim glowered at him and he winced. "Not the time?

"Not even close."

"Right," he agreed. "Look, Dom means well and he's pretty powerful. He's needed."

"No, he's not," she informed him. "He may be _wanted _by you, but he's not needed."

"But--"

"You can not simply create morphers when it suits your desires, Requiem."

"But--"

"There has to be balance and if your boy is as powerful as you claim then you just gave Dai Shi more power as well."

"But--"

"Your power up wasn't needed anymore than this one was."

"We don't have to--"

"Casey is having enough issues with you on the team as it is; how is he going to handle the joking rhino who thinks spying on private conversations is okay?"

RJ jerked at that. A flicker of annoyance passed his features as he saw Dom come of hiding from the alley entrance to the loft.

"What are you doing up here?" RJ asked but Dom ignored him. Instead, he crossed his arms and stared at Kimberly angrily.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he demanded. "This is RJ's team, his parlor, his home! What gives you the right to waltz in here and start questioning his decisions and ordering his team around?"

Without warning, a piercing cry echoed through the room before a pink, white, and gold crane spirit materialized and began attacking the Rhino Ranger. Even as he turned on Kimberly angrily, RJ couldn't help but be impressed with how effortlessly she managed to control the Crane.

"Cut that out!" he hissed and Kim raised an eyebrow. RJ made a face. "Please?"

Just as quickly as it had began, the attack stopped. The three teens who had come up when they heard the crane, all winced in sympathy at the cuts on Dominic's face. He looked up at her incredously.

"You're Pua Zhua!" he exclaimed and Kimberly smirked.

"I'm not Pua Zhua," she informed him coolly as she held out a hand. RJ, Dom, and the four teens all gaped as the ivory band that hid Dom's morpher faded from his wrist only to reappear on her palm. Kim flicked her own wrist and the morpher disappeared entirely. At his incensed look, Kim merely raised an eyebrow.

"I am the Jungle Fury Guardian and until I say otherwise, you are no longer a ranger."


	13. CH 13: This is Me

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate  
**Story:** Begotten  
**Characters:** RJ, Kim  
**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.  
**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.  
**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"She can't do that!" Dominic yelled. After her startling and somewhat confusing statement, Kimberly had walked into her room and shut and locked the door. It was only RJ and Casey holding him back that had stopped Dominic from bursting her door down and forcefully taking back the morpher.

"Dom…" RJ sighed but Dominic wouldn't listen.

"She can't just take my morpher and tell me I'm not a ranger until she says so! Who the hell does she think she is?!"

"Our Guardian."

The quiet statement from Theo made everyone quiet down. They looked at him, confused. Theo eyed the group.

"Did you hear what she called herself? The Jungle Fury Guardian," he reminded them. "_Our_ Guardian."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked.

"Who cares, I just want my damn morpher back!" Dominic growled.

"Well you can't have it back till she says so, so stop whining!" Theo snapped, his temper fraying as he finally understood everything they had been putting her through each time they accepted a new ranger. Casey and Lily exchanged surprised looks as Dominic glared at him.

"That's it! I'm going to get it back!" Dominic growled, moving towards the door. RJ dashed forward, intent on stopping him when the door to Kimberly's room opened. Kim moved to the doorway, her face pale, lips white, and eyes bloodshot again. She glared at the group even as she swayed.

"Hydro," she said, pointing a hand at Dominic. As everyone watched, water shot from Kimberly's palm in the form of a hellowand doused the Rhino master. "Maybe that will calm you down cause if I hear you bitching one more time while I try to sleep this goddamn morpher off, it won't be water I'll be throwing at your ass!"

With that, she turned on her heel and slammed the door. RJ gaped as Dom simply stood frozen, confusion and slight fear radiating from him.

"What is she?" he asked his voice quiet. Casey, Lily, and RJ turned to Theo who glowered.

"She's a Guardian. Our Guardian," he answered again.

"Which means, what, exactly?" RJ asked, confused. "And how do you know all this?"

"She told us she was the Guardian. And I know about Guardians from the book Billy gave me when he and Adam trained me," Theo informed them coolly. He was angry at RJ for not trusting Kim, angry at himself for not seeing it sooner, and angry at Dominic for being an insensitive and pigheaded jerk. Casey frowned.

"You're gonna have to tell me after you tell them," he informed Theo and the blue ranger nodded as Casey left the room. For once, the two male rangers were in complete understanding of what needed to be done, even if Casey didn't know why.

"Where's he going?" Dominic asked and Theo raised an eyebrow at him in an eerie imitation of the original pink ranger.

"To call Tommy, Adam, and Billy," Theo replied

"Who are they?" Dominic almost demanded as RJ's eyes widened and guilt filled them. Knowing he finally got it, at least some of it, Theo glared at Dom.

"Three guys you don't want to mess with, especially since you're the whole reason we have to call them in the first place," he almost sneered. He may have agreed with allowing Dom to join the team during battle, but seeing his reaction to everything now, Theo wasn't feeling particularly supportive of him getting the morpher back.

"Theo, what is a Guardian?" Lily asked quietly. Theo swallowed and gingerly began flipping through the book he had gone and grabbed while Casey and RJ kept Dom away from Kim.

"Here it is," he said, handing it to Lily. "Third and fourth paragraphs."

Lily gingerly accepted the book and looked down at where he had pointed. She began reading aloud.

"_The Guardians are the connections between Cosmos and the Grid. While morphers, coins, gems, crystals, etc. are the conduits through which Rangers harness the power of the grid, the Guardians are physical, living conduits through which the Grid harnesses the power of Cosmos. Because there are so many ranger teams, The Grid chooses one or two Guardians to look over each team; all Ranger powers are approved and created by the Guardian(s). Sometimes, when a new team is formed, a Guardian isn't chosen immediately. As many Rangers have said in the past; when it comes to The Power, coincidences don't happen. The Guardian will eventually find their way to their new ranger team, but for a time they may not realize why they are so drawn and accepting of the team. _

"_As said before, when a new team is formed within the Grid, a Guardian for that team is chosen. How Guardians are chosen is mostly unknown. Temples on Eltar, Phaedos, and Triforia teach acolytes the Ways of the Guardians but most of those acolytes are never made Guardians. Many rangers retire after a time, and some end up finding themselves as Guardians. These two facts have lead many researchers to the theory that the Grid itself chooses its Guardians, just as the Grid chooses who will wield its power as Rangers. Others argue that this cannot be the case, due to the Guardian being more than a protector of a ranger team; Guardians, as mentioned before, are the conduits through with the Grid derives its power from Cosmos."_

Lily frowned, not quite getting it but knowing they had someone messed up from Theo's pinched expression. Dom looked completely bewildered but RJ was growing more agitated as he grabbed the book from Lily's hands and continued reading.

"_Whatever the case, it cannot be ignored that Guardians are equal in power to Rangers; in fact, they typically have more power than Rangers though they are hard pressed to harness it. The Guardians have the power to completely shut off their ranger team from the grid, and if motivated, it is believed that the Guardians could even shut off the link between the Grid and Cosmos as well, leaving the Universe with no Power Rangers. _

"_In the reverse, it was found during the Little War that when a Guardian is killed, their Ranger powers are destroyed as well. Due to this, the identities of the Guardians are kept even more of a secret than rangers' identities. During the Little War, there were twelve Guardians and twelve ranger teams spread throughout the universe. By the end of the war, Ivan Ooze had killed off all but three of the Guardians and destroyed nine ranger teams. It was then that the remaining Guardians, Zordon of Eltar, Ninjor of the Coins, and Dulcea of Phaedos, made the decree that the Guardians would forever be kept in absolute secrecy. Since then, the only known Guardians were the three of them, with all other Guardians generally unknown to even their teams._"

"So that's why she didn't tell us," Lily realized when RJ trailed off. "She really wasn't allowed to unless she absolutely had to."

"Keep reading RJ," Adam's voice came from the doorway. RJ looked up and swallowed as he saw Tommy and Adam standing there, arms folded as they glowered. Billy hurried past them to Kim's room, a metal blue case in hand. Adam and Tommy remained with the current rangers. RJ looked back down to the book.

"_Guardians are completely in tune of their ranger teams and the creation of a new ranger typically causes the Guardian discomfort and great illness depending on the power of the ranger. This is why some Guardians do not allow the creation of more than six ranger powers and why most ranger teams are forbidden from making new rangers without the express permission of their Guardian. The illness and discomfort a Guardian experiences is generally worse if a ranger power is created without their knowledge. In a few cases, the Guardian was inadvertently killed because their bodies were not prepared to handle the assault of raw power it takes to create new rangers._

"_A curious side effect has happened on Earth, interestingly. Many of the Earth rangers are completely unaware they even have a Guardian. When new rangers are created, they typically do so without permission from their Guardians because they are unaware of the Guardians place in the ranger power. In one occasion, a Guardian wasn't even located in the same time period as his ranger team, though he did travel back in time to "assist" when he believed he was needed. It should also be noted that out of Zordon's chosen twelve,** at least four are suspected of having become Guardians themselves, with a fifth said to be showing the signs. The identity of these five is not known outside of the Council of Guardians._"

RJ let out a deep shuddering breath as he finally understood why Kim was so obsessed with him trusting her and not creating new powers without informing her beforehand. Without a word, he handed the book to Lily and left for the kitchens. He needed something to keep his mind off the fact he may have accidentally killed his sister due to his desire to have his old friend on the team.

* * *

"How is she?" Casey asked an hour later when Billy and Tommy finally left Kimberly's room, Adam remaining. Both looked exhausted.

"She's out of the red, at least," Tommy told them, flopping down on RJ's chair, completely uncaring if he objected or not.

"So she's going to be all right?" Theo asked and Billy shrugged.

"She'll survive the process, but she'll be sick again for a week or so," he answered and Fran grimaced as she came in and sat down by Lily. "The process is hard on the body."

"Adam said he went through the same thing?" Fran asked, remembering and Billy nodded.

"He somehow ended up the Co-Guardian of the Overdrive team with Spencer," he replied. "He and the old butler both went through it when Mack and the others got reconnected to the grid, though it didn't hit him nearly as fast."

"I went through it three times and the first time nearly killed me; three morphers were activated then. The only thing that saved me was I had prepped myself beforehand," Tommy told them with a grimace.

"You're a Guardian too?" Lily asked, surprised, and Tommy nodded.

"Of the Dino Thunder team."

"And I was the Guardian for the Zeo's though none of them knew that till a few years ago," Billy added with a smile.

"I would have thought it would have been Zordon," Casey mentioned, knowing the history through Kim and the other Ninjetti's.

"He was the Guardian for the Morphin team until he somehow switched it to Jason right before he died," Tommy agreed. "We honestly have no idea how he managed that but he definitely did."

"That reminds me, Jason is in there with her and Adam now," Billy told them and they all nodded. "He won't be joining us or showing his face anytime soon cause he's a bit upset."

"A bit?" Tommy snorted. "Billy, he threatened to castrate anyone who came into the room for the next hour unless it was Fran or Adam."

Billy snickered while Casey, Theo, and Lily all winced. Fran jumped from her seat by Lily and dashed through the door to Kim's room, happy to know she could help. From his place in the corner, Dominic swallowed thickly.

"Who is she?"

Everyone turned to the Rhino Ranger, some in surprise. They hadn't realized he was still there.

"She's Kimberly Hart, original pink ranger, Crane Ninjetti, and the Jungle Fury Guardian," Tommy finally answered, seeing how guilty the man looked now that everything was out in the open. Recalling how the man had joined the team, according to a slightly tipsy sounding Kim, he was glad to see the man understood how his actions had affected those around him.

"You'll get your morpher back," he told him finally and Dom brightened a bit. Tommy smiled wryly. "Kim's not going through all the trouble of dealing with the energy just so she wouldn't use the damn thing."

"Just be patient with her, she may want you to prove yourself before she'll give it back," Billy told him. "She doesn't know you and honestly? Doesn't trust you due to that little incident of almost getting a civilian squished."

Dominic winced as all three Guardians stared at him disapprovingly. "How'd you know about that?" he asked.

"Guardian thing," Tommy answered with a shrug.

* * *

"Hey Rage," Tommy greeted the man as he gingerly made his way into the kitchen. RJ ignored him as he worked. Tommy sighed.

"Your sister's going to be fine," he told him and RJ swallowed. "She'll be sick like a, well, like a dog, for about a week and half though."

"I should have listened."

Tommy paused at the quiet statement, not able to refute it. He rolled up his sleeves and wentand washed his hands. Moving so he was opposite the purple ranger, he grabbed a handful of the unkneeded dough.

"Everyone makes mistakes they wish they could take back, RJ," he told him as he worked on the white piece of food. "Its part of being a ranger."

"I nearly got her killed 'cause I didn't trust her," he whispered and Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, you did," he agreed. "But you didn't know why she was insisting on you telling her about the damn morphers."

"I should have trusted her; I knew she wasn't telling me to tell her cause she was mentor. I knew there was more to it," RJ muttered.

"You and her half an almost unique set of dynamics among mentors," Tommy said, grabbing more flour. "You're siblings who are in charge of different aspects of mentoring a team of rangers. You're going to have to sit down and lay all your cards on the table once she gets back on her feet otherwise this will never work."

"How'd you do it?" RJ asked, finally looking up. Tommy grimaced.

"I didn't."

"But you were the Dino mentor," RJ argued and Tommy shook his head.

"I tried being Zordon but that wasn't who I am. I gave them advice, I helped them with life issues, and I fought with them, but I tried keeping my distance like Zordon tried and it backfired on me. Badly," he admitted. "I ended up so caught up in my own issues that I ended up a complication they probably didn't need. That's why I think mentors shouldn't be rangers as well."

"But mentors who are rangers can help them on the battlefield," RJ argued and Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, but at what cost to them?" he asked quietly. RJ frowned, confused.

"Conner, my red, turned twenty-one last year," he said. "I brought him, Kira, and Ethan down to my house and we had a party. Conner ended up crashing at my place and I found out just hard it had been on him having me in battle. He was constantly questioning who was leader of the team something I knew was partly my fault. Having a mentor on the battlefield may be good and all, but they tend to overshadow the leader and make the leader doubt themselves. Conner was typically fine when I was in the Lab, giving advice while they fault but the moment I stepped onto the battlefield, he tended to delegate everything to me 'cause he thought he had to. I've noticed from footage that for a while, Casey had the same issue."

"Yeah, but we got over that," RJ agreed and Tommy smiled.

"And that means you're already a better mentor than I was," he told him with a wry grin.

"How does Kim fit into all this?" RJ asked and Tommy shrugged.

"From what I was told, you asked her to teach them ranger ways, to be the ranger mentor while you handled the Pua Zhua stuff," he said and RJ nodded. "Sounds to me like you two need to figure out, once and for all, just what each of those positions entail."


	14. CH 14: This is Home

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Hey Fran--who the hell are you?" Jason asked, surprised, when he saw a guy he didn't recognize wiping Kim's forehead when he walked into Kim's bedroom. The guy looked up, a flash of guilt on his face.

"I'm Dominic," he introduced himself weakly. He'd been feeling highly guilty since he found out what had happened and why exactly Kimberly had been so agitated with him joining the team. The guy nodded sharply, something in his shoulders releasing.

"I'm Jason," he introduced himself as Fran got up so he could sit down. "How is she?"

Kimberly weakly opened her eyes and half-heartedly glared at them all. "_She_ feels like a Rhino fell on her," she grumbled as she struggled to sit up. Dominic's eyes widened and he leaned back in worry as Jason bent over to help her on the bed. She made a face at the Rhino Ranger.

"Don't be like that, I was making a joke," she scolded weakly. "Though your powers _are_ impressive."

"So they are _his_ powers?" Fran asked tentively, voicing what Dominic had been thinking. Kimberly made another face.

"You think I'm going through this hell just so he can sit on his ass and charm the ladies? Cha, right!" she scoffed. Dominic looked between the grinning Fran, the amused Jason, and the exhausted looking Kimberly and sighed. He had a feeling she was going to take some getting used to.

"All I have is one question, and I'll know if you lie since I'm your bloody conduit," Kim turned to him and Dominic straightened. He nodded hesitantly even as the door opened slightly and Casey poked his head in.

"I'll answer anything you want," Dominic agreed. Kim focused her gaze entirely on Dominic.

"Who let the dogs out?"

Dominic gaped at her even as Jason cracked up. From the doorway, Casey outright laughed and even Fran was giggling. Kim smiled slightly at his flabbergasted expression.

"I'm serious!" she told him, smirking. "Who in their right mind would make my brother a Master? He won't tell me so you're the only choice!"

"…I…"

"Honesty, remember?" she poked him gently with her finger. He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it.

"Sorry, I know what I said but if RJ won't tell you, then I won't break that trust," he told her, being completely honest. She sat back on the bed, a self-satisfied little smirk on her face. Dominic fidgeted for a moment before he felt something land on his head. Frowning, he reached up and pulled down his bracelet. He grinned and Kim rolled her eyes.

"Scat, I want to talk to the munchkins," she waved him out and he did so, handing the water-clogged rag to the entering Theo as he left. Lily gently closed the door and the three teens moved around Kim's bed. Fran stood up but Kim motioned for her to stay. A glare in Jason's direction also told him to remain.

"You let him off easy," Casey mentioned as he sat down at the foot of the bed. Theo grabbed the chair Dominic had vacated while Lily ignored them all and scooted in beside Kim. Fran followed her lead and got on the other side. Kim shrugged.

"He's the masochist, not me," she told him dryly. At the teens's baffled look, she elaborated. "I know the hell he's going to endure the next couple months. He wants to put himself through that willingly than who am I to stop him?"

Theo and Lily snickered. Kim's smile faded. "Listen, before the Wolf comes to talk, I need to talk to you four," she told them, her voice serious, if still rather weak.

"What's up?" Lily asked. Kim sighed.

"I need to apologize to RJ, but I want you three to understand something very very important. Most of this is for you three, but I want you to know as well Fran," she said, leaning her head on Fran's shoulder. She felt the girl nod as Lily lay her own head on Kim's shoulder. Casey and Theo were leaning forward, looking concerned.

"RJ is your primary master and mentor, not me," she told them bluntly and they jerked back slightly.

"But…," Casey began but stopped when Kim raised a hand.

"Let me finish?" she asked and he nodded. She smiled. "I'm training you as rangers, but in the end, this war isn't a ranger war. It's a Pua Zhau war. I should never have undermined RJ's authority like I did with Dom. I felt crappy and irritated that he hadn't listened to me, but I should not have done it."

"But you're our Guardian!" Theo burst out and then slumped at Kim's glare. "Sorry."

"Guardian or not, I do not want you to think that cause I have all this untapped power, I'm above RJ. I'm not. I work on the zords, on the ranger powers, hell, even the weapons if I can get Billy to sit on the phone and walk me through it so I don't blow something up." The group snickered, including Jason. "RJ is your master. He's the one who should be making the mentor decisions that have to do with the Pua Zhua, not me. What I need to focus on his how to keep the ranger powers from blowing you all to kingdom come."

"Why must you keep talking about blowing stuff up?" Theo asked, a pinched expression on his face. Kim smirked.

"Maybe cause I keep remembering a rather frantic phone call Tommy got from Kira when Adam and Alpha somehow managed to blow up one of Hartford's computers," she retorted dryly. Jason snickered again while Casey simply grinned. The girls both giggled as Theo rolled his eyes heavenward

"Point is, you do NOT look to me for leadership unless RJ is indisposed, got me?" she asked and the four nodded. Kim smiled, slightly amused at Fran's agreement since she wasn't technically a Pua Zhua. "Besides, I think this little…debacle…has proven that I make poor judgments when I'm pissy."

"We should all run away when it's your time of the month then, shouldn't we?" Casey asked, grinning cheekily. Theo gaped at him as Kim and the girls glared.

"You are so gonna regret saying that come our next training session," Kim finally said and Casey's grin fell. Ignoring Jason's snickers, she smiled at them all.

"Now, I'm hungry. Soup?" she asked hopefully in Theo's direction and the blue ranger grinned.

"Coming up!" he said cheerfully, getting up. Before he reached the door, however, it opened to reveal the worried gaze of not just RJ but her father. She grimaced.

"Oh wonderful," she muttered under her breath, nudging the girls. Getting the hint, they got up and left with Theo, dragging Casey with them. Finn stared at Jason, looking bemused.

"You know, I shouldn't be surprised to see you here, but I am," he commented and Jason gave a forced smile. He'd never particularly liked her father, mostly, she suspected, because of the many nights she had cried on his shoulder about the man.

"Hiya Dad," she greeted half-heartedly as Jason excused himself, firmly closing the door on the family. The two men sat down, looking over her worriedly. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, for God's sake, stop it! I'm recovering from a Rhino size whammy, not dying!" she scolded them. RJ winced.

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am? When you were conscious, I mean?" he asked and Kim nodded.

"I vaguely remember you crying over my person," she agreed and RJ made a face.

"I was not crying!" he argued and Kim rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you were leaking from the eyeballs, whatever," she waved a hand dismissively. RJ scowled. "Or that might have been Dominic—I don't know, it's all the white, I'm gonna get confused."

"Dom isn't the crying sort," RJ defended him and Kim raised an eyebrow.

"Know him so well, then?" she asked, only half jokingly. RJ made another face.

"He's my second best friend. Or possibly my third, I really need to sit down and figure that out," he frowned to himself. Kim made a face even as she noted her father's amused gaze.

"Who's your first?" she asked curiously. He gave her a "duh" look.

"You, Pinky," he told her and then grinned. "God, that nickname makes so much more sense now."

She shook her head at him. "You've known my past for a month or so and you're just now connecting the dots on Jase' nickname for me?" she asked, somewhat entertained by the thought. He shrugged and she grinned. The three were silent for a moment.

"I really am sorry."

"I'm sorry." They said at the same time. The two paused before wry smiles graced their familiar features. A discreet cough made them turn to their father.

"How's the fishing?" Kim asked cheekily. Finn scowled at her, even as RJ snickered.

"How are you?" he asked worriedly. Kim shrugged.

"Honestly?" she asked, and was surprised when he nodded. "I feel like the time I got my coin sucked from my body only in reverse."

"That was bad?" Finn asked, not having learned her history as the others had. Kim made a face.

"Not a pleasant feeling, I don't recommend it," she told him, her voice serious. Finn still looked confused so Kim tried a different approach. "It's like if your shark was forcefully pulled from your body very very slowly."

"I agree, very unpleasant, don't recommend it either," RJ said with a wince as he rubbed his chest in remembered pain. Kim shared a sympathetic look with her brother as her father nodded.

"So whats this guardian nonsense about?" he asked and Kim winced.

"I really shouldn't have told you all about that," she sighed. "Dulcea's gonna kill me, if Ninjor doesn't get to me first."

RJ frowned. "Dulcea and Ninjor, the ones from the book?" he asked and Kim nodded. "Shouldn't they be dead? Tommy said the Little War was before Dai Shi even existed."

Kim shrugged. "Dulcea isn't Terran Human, she's Phaedosian Human," she told them. "Besides, she's the Guardian of the Ninjette and the Master Warrior of Phaedos and she looks like she's in her early thirties. I doubt she's gonna kick the bucket anytime soon."

"Why do people say that?" RJ asked suddenly. "'Kick the bucket.' It sounds so…informal."

"Walrus'," she answered and was greeted with two blank faces. She pouted.

"No one gets my lol cat humor," she grumbled. Finn frowned.

"What do walrus' have to do with cats?" he asked. Kim stared at him before shaking her head.

"You know what? Never mind," she muttered. She looked over at her father. "So whatcha doing here?"

"I can't visit my daughter?" he asked, annoyance tinging his voice. She stared at him.

"The last time you voluntarily visited without me having to call first was right before I moved to Florida, so yeah, I think it's a little odd," she told him bluntly. Finn's eyes narrowed.

"Kimberly…" RJ groaned. "Now is not the time."

"I'm way too tired bullshit him," she argued. "And besides, he'll probably take off as soon as he can. He's good at that."

"_He_ is standing right here," Finn snapped. Kim raised an eyebrow.

"You're sitting," she pointed out and his scowl deepened.

"Kimberly!" RJ scolded in a strangled voice. "He's trying, can't you cut him some slack?"

"No, I can't," she replied back stubbornly. "Six years, that's all the time you two avoided each other. He's been absent for almost my entire life, nearly thirty years!"

RJ and Finn watched as a strange expression crossed her face. "God, I'm nearly thirty and I'm still dealing with this BS," she grumbled. Finn scowled.

"You could have written," he argued. Kim stared at him, honestly surprised at the suggestion.

"You never gave me an address, even after I asked fourteen times!" she told him angrily. Finn scowl deepened.

"You never asked fourteen times!" he shot back. She glared at him.

"I counted!" she snapped back, breathing heavily. A sharp pain hit her side and she winced. RJ sprang to his feet, agitated.

"Stop it, both of you!" He shouted. "Kimberly, you may want to do this now, but you're not recovered enough. Dad, just drop it!"

Finn threw his hands in the air and stomped from the room. RJ turned disappointed eyes on her and she scowled. "Watch, he'll leave 'cause he can't deal."

"You don't know that," he scolded. Kim stared at him.

"For nearly thirty years, RJ, I have watched that man run away when things get too emotional or something doesn't go his way. I'm done watching; he's gonna deal and he's gonna do it soon, even if I have to grab him by his freakin tale and drag him to the Monastery and have Mao lock him in the forbidden room until he deals," she told him tightly. RJ stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"We'll be waiting a while," he finally answered. She smiled slightly.

"Have faith, RJ," she told him with a small smile. "There's only one person on this Earth who can out-stubborn him."

"Who?" he asked, suspecting he knew her answer. She smirked.

"Why, his daughter of course!"


	15. CH 15: Open Your Eyes To Love

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Kim, are you okay?" Lily asked her voice quiet as she stood by the stairs. Kim had been sent back up after snapping at Theo for the third time in the parlor below. She'd drawn the short straw (literally) when they were deciding who was going to find out what was wrong.

"Nothing," she replied, banging a pot on the stove. Lily snorted.

"Kim, I know something's wrong," she told her and she turned around, fork in hand. "Talk to me."

Kim stared at her a moment before her shoulders slumped. "I don't know whats going on with Adam or Jason."

"The guys who are always around?" Lily asked and the woman nodded as she slipped into the chair by the counter.

"Jason kissed me on accident and Adam…oh, I don't know!" she cried out, banging her head on the counter top. Lily reached over and placed supportive hand on Kim's shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Casey, Dominic, and RJ peaking around the corner of the stairs, watching.

"Do you like them?" Lily asked quietly. Kim was silent for a few minutes.

"I had a crush on Jason when I was in junior high," she finally confessed, looking up. "And I've had unfriendly thoughts about Adam for a while."

Lily smiled sympathetically. "So you thought you liked Adam but now that Jason kissed you, you're not so sure?" she asked and Kim hesitated before nodding again. "So why are you so irritated today?"

"They're avoiding me."

"Avoiding you?" Lily asked, surprised. _Does she not know the two of them were by her side almost constantly when she was sick?_

"Yeah," Kim agreed. "I've tried calling them both and they either never answer or have to get off a few minutes into the conversation."

"Maybe they really are busy?" Lily suggested and frowned when Kim shook her head.

"Aisha said they're avoiding her too and Rocky apparently is having fits cause something's going on with Jase and Adam and he and Tommy somehow got put in the middle. Billy, Kat, Tanya, and Zack have taken to avoiding their phone calls so they don't get pulled in," she told her.

Lily paused, taking that in. "They're fighting over you!" she gasped and Kim nodded miserably.

"I think so, yeah," she consented. "And in the process, they're both avoiding me."

Lily sighed. "I'm sorry Kim," she said, rubbing her shoulder and knowing there was little she could do. She suddenly brightened. "How about we have a girl's night? Fran and I can get some ice cream and I'll call Aisha!"

Kim looked up at her hopefully. "That sounds wonderful," she agreed with a happy sigh. Lily grinned as the boys disappeared from the doorway.

* * *

"We need to do something," Casey grumbled. He, Dom, and RJ had slipped back downstairs and told Fran to go upstairs. Casey had dragged Theo into the kitchen (thank God the rush was over!) and told him what they had heard.

"What can we do? I'd rather not corner the original red or the second black," Theo pointed out and Dom nodded in agreement. RJ made a face.

"I'd be more worried about Kim and the girl's reaction, actually," he said and the guys all paused as they considered that. A collective shiver went through them.

"Have I mentioned those girls are scary as hell when they're pissed or PMSing?" Dom asked and RJ nodded.

"A few times, yeah," he grinned and Casey and Theo snickered.

"I still say Kim and Lily are rubbing off on Fran," Casey mentioned and Theo nodded in agreement. RJ and Dom snickered. Casey made a face. "I still wince when I think of her blow up at me when I forgot to put away the flour."

"You know what's sad?" Dom asked suddenly and the other three looked at him. "We outnumber them on this team but we're still afraid of em!"

RJ, Casey, and Theo all laughed.

"Seriously, though, we have to do something," Casey repeated. The others calmed and nodded, looking thoughtful. Theo suddenly grimaced.

"But what can we do that won't piss off the girls?"

* * *

"Something HAS to be done," Tommy declared. At his side, Rocky nodded frantically. Andros glanced around, taking in the amused and uncomfortable looks of every male ranger, ally and former villain Tommy had been able to contact (which was almost everyone but the Galaxy's). He absently wondered how they had all been dragged in but dismissed it almost immediately—two of the original rangers we're having a tiff and driving Tommy nuts in the process; the original green would call in anyone he could think of to help.

"Where are the girls?" Eric asked from his spot on Tommy's couch. Billy snorted.

"At JKP, having a ladies night with Kim and her two girls," he answered. The guys all looked at each other.

"I feel sorry for RJ and his boys," Zack said, voicing what they'd all been thinking. Titters went through the room as a sudden flash of light revealed Kat, Aisha, Tanya, Trini, and the four aforementioned guys. Andros began laughing at RJ, Casey, Theo, and Dom's frantic expressions. Looking amused, the girls disappeared.

"Have a seat, we're discussing what to do with Jase and Adam," Tommy greeted them with a smile. RJ sagged forward.

"Oh, thank God," he muttered, plopping down. "She's driving me nuts!"

"Driving _you_ nuts?" Theo asked incredously as he settled down by Ethan who greeted him with a smile. "You're not the one she snapped at three times!"

"Yeah, and you didn't have to train with her in her mood," Casey added as he settled by his older brother. Carter and several of the guys chuckled as Dom nodded in agreement.

"I think I cracked a rib," he muttered and Rocky snickered.

"One of the reasons we tried to not train with the girls," the red ape smiled. "They tended to bruise us up more."

"That's only cause you tended to treat them like porcelain," Wes muttered and ducked the flying pillow sent his way.

"The point is," Tommy interrupted before they all started a pillow fight in his living room; he'd rather not face Hayley's wrath if something got broken. "We have to do something about them."

"I have a question?" Daggeron asked from his place next to a perplexed looking Leanbow. "What, exactly, is going on? All Xander and Nick would tell us was it was a male meet-up to deal with two rangers issues."

"Jason and Adam are fighting over Kimberly, the original pink ranger," Tommy answered.

"And coincidentally, his ex-girlfriend," Justin added with a smirk. "He used to have a thing for Pinks."

Tommy made a face.

"Jason is my best friend and Adam comes a close second; they've put me and Rocky in the middle," he said. Daggeron and Leanbow nodded as a flash of purple revealed a man very few in the room knew. Tommy's eyes lit up; he and the other rangers had gotten over their issues with the man and his wife fairly quickly after Zordon's death and now they were both good friends of his and Kat's, much to the others amusement.

"Hey Zedd, how's Rita?" he asked and Zedd smiled.

"On her way to help with Kimmie's 'problem'," he answered as he moved to stand next to Leanbow. The man nodded a greeting.

"Please don't tell me she's gonna try magic," Tommy pleaded and Zedd snorted.

"No, she's just planning on giving her opinion," he told him. Every male ranger who knew the witch paused.

"Which would be…?" Carlos asked slowly and Zedd smirked.

"That when she first popped up, she swore Jason and Kimberly were together but that Adam always seemed to connect with Kimberly more than any other male ranger," he answered with a smile. RJ made a face.

"That's gonna confuse her even more!" he groaned and the others nodded. Zedd looked at RJ in slight confusion.

"Oh, right, introductions!" Tommy realized. "Zedd, meet the new rangers, Casey, Theo, RJ, and Dominic. RJ is Kim's younger brother," he told the older man who nodded.

"I thought you looked familiar," he told the purple ranger. RJ made an odd little face but didn't comment. Zedd smirked and Tommy rolled his eyes.

"This probably won't help, but I just have to ask," Mack spoke up from his place by Tyzonn. "Who do you want her to end up with? You have the most history with her. Romantically, anyway."

Tommy paused. "I will always love Kim in my own way," he started. "But I thought the same thing Rita did when I first arrived in Angel Grove."

"You thought Jason and her were together?" Devin and Trent asked at the same time in surprise. Tommy nodded as the two boys smirked at each other. It never ceased to amaze him how close those two boys had gotten since they'd graduated high school. Devin and Trent were about as close as Conner and Ethan.

"I'd never met two people who were that close without being a couple before," Tommy shrugged. Billy nodded.

"Trini thought they would be good together," he offered.

"What did you think?" Blake asked, slightly fascinated by the relationships among the originals.

"I honestly think she's better suited for Adam romantically," the original blue confessed. "Jason has always adored her, but in a little sister capacity. This is the first time he's ever considered her as more than a friend."

"Why is he looking at her now?" Cole asked.

"What's changed?" Merrick added. Everyone shrugged.

"Jason accidentally kissed her," Theo said quietly from the floor. The group all looked at him in surprise.

"How does someone accidentally kiss someone else?" Shane asked skeptically.

"Lily was spying and saw Jason about to kiss her forehead so she had the Cheetah trip him slightly and…well…" Theo trailed off uncomfortably.

"In other words, her yellow ranger was playing match-maker," Will said with a smirk.

"God, she sounds like Ronny," Dax groaned. "I'm kinda hoping we don't have a team-up cause those two together would be scary.

RJ shuddered in agreement; he'd heard about the Yellow Overdrive ranger from Kim and couldn't agree more. Ryan was snickering.

"You two both realize they're together now, right? With all the other yellows?" he asked and the men all paused. Yellow's, in some ways, were scarier than Pinks. Mostly, it was because they were sneakier and tended to think before they acted whereas Pink's went with the flow and listened to their hearts rather than their heads.

"We're doomed," TJ muttered.

"Women scare me," Chip said and the guys agreed. "How do you deal with them?"

"Very carefully and pray she doesn't turn you into an animal," Leanbow said dryly and several of the men snickered, Daggeron, Nick, and Zedd chief among them.

"I gave up on women, so I really can't say," Carter said and Joel snorted.

"It took Kelsey a week and a half to stop having naughty images of you two," he said with a smirk and Carter and Ryan blushed.

"I can't really say either," Chad grinned. "I fell in love with and married a mermaid, after all."

Daggeron and Nick both jerked as if they'd been slapped. "What?" Nick asked, surprised. Chad smiled.

"My wife was a mermaid before she decided humanity better suited her," he shrugged.

"Marina hates it when we call her Ariel," Ryan grinned.

Tommy smiled slightly when he noticed Xander and Chip were watching Nick carefully while Leanbow and Zedd were doing the same with Daggeron. Zedd had told him about the issues between those two and Madison, the blue mystic. Rita apparently was in a fit about the whole thing, muttering stuff about frog prince's and curses, and how magic always had a purpose even if it did tend to screw things up. Some things really were universal after all.

"What about you, Zack? Who do you think Kim should end up with?" Danny asked quietly by Max. The blue wild force ranger grinned next to his boyfriend.

"Yeah, we heard from Tommy and Billy; you're turn man!" he agreed.

"While Jason is my best friend, I agree with Billy," Zack said. "Adam is more suited for her romantically than Jason."

"What about you Rocky?" Dustin asked from where his head was in Hunter's lap.

Rocky frowned. "I don't know, I can't help but be biased when it comes to friends turning into something more. I married Aisha, after all."

"You two were friends before?" Conner asked and Rocky nodded.

"Sha, Adam, and I were inseparable all through high school until she moved to Africa after the Zeo thing," he told him. Conner nodded thoughtfully and Ethan snickered.

"You really need to figure out what to do with Kira," he told his friend and Trent and Devin nodded in agreement. The older men just looked on, amused.

"Tommy?" Xander spoke up from his place by Chip. "If she ends up with Jason, aren't you going to feel weird?"

Tommy paused. "Maybe a little, but I'll probably feel a bit weird if she ends up with Adam too," he said. "I just want her, and them, happy though, so that's all that matters."

Xander nodded, looking thoughtful.

"No matter what happens though, someone's gonna get hurt," Cam said; but he wasn't looking at Tommy, but at an oblivious Hunter and Dustin.

"Yeah, someone will be," Zhane agreed.

"RJ? You're her brother, right?" Hunter asked and RJ nodded. Andros raised an eyebrow.

"Who do _you_ want her to end up with?" Andros asked, seeing what crimson ranger was thinking of.

RJ sighed. "I honestly don't know. In some ways, I think Adam can be too quiet and shy for Kim," he said and those who knew both of them nodded. "But on the other hand, I think his calm personality balances her bubbly one out."

"And Jason and Kim are a lot alike in personality. Jason can handle her moments and she can handle his strength and over-thinking traits," Tommy put forth. RJ nodded.

"Exactly. They'd both be good for her but in different ways," he said with a sigh.

"Maybe…" Tyzonn began and everyone looked over. "Maybe you should wait and let her decide."

"After all, _she_ is the one being fought over," Andrew added. "Just give her time to figure out her feelings. She may not even choose either one."

"You guys could help but just being there for both of them, dealing with their issues, and being there when she finally figures everything out," Anton added. Everyone nodded and Zedd smiled at Tommy.

"One thing I learned early on about Kimberly is that she has a remarkable head on her shoulders when she chooses to use it. Whatever she decides will be best for her and no one else," he said and Tommy nodded in wry agreement.

"Is that why you tried making her your queen before you and Rita got hitched?" Rocky asked curiously. Every male but the originals turned to Zedd in surprise. Zedd rolled his eyes.

"Kimberly would have made an excellent evil queen," he agreed with a small smile. Casey and RJ exchanged slightly horrified looks.

"Don't _ever_ tell her Zedd said that," Casey ordered his team. "She's evil enough as it is."

Everyone laughed.


	16. CH 16: Down The Road

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.**  
**

* * *

Kim was having a fairly good day. The girls' night she'd had had three days previously had cheered her up immensely, despite the confusion swirling and the opinions of everyone who knew everyone involved in her own triangle. She'd also learned she wasn't the only one in that particular situation; Madison was having issues with Nick and Daggeron. It'd been slightly amusing how they both had a "frog prince" to deal with.

Fran and Lily had also been very hyper and happy-go-lucky the last few days which Kim chalked up to the girls night and hanging out with no one but women. Lily had instantly clicked with Kira, Tori, and Ronny while Fran had found kindred souls in Clare and LeeLee. It'd been a bit unsettling at first when they'd seen the vampire princess but they'd gotten over it fairly quickly. LeeLee may have looked like Camille but she was nothing like her.

"Kim, come on!" Fran called, motioning for her. The girl was grinning like a loon. Kim frowned.

"Fran, what…?" she asked but was cut off when Lily sped past the girl and grabbed Kim's hand.

"Come on," she said, dragging Kim forward.

"Ack!" Kim stumbled up the stairs after her before Lily finally pushed Kim ahead of her. Kim frowned as she walked into the darkened Loft. "What's going on?" she asked and the girls just grinned. A sudden light caught her attention and she looked down.

There, in the center of the Loft, spotlight shining down on them, was the boys sitting and standing around various instruments. Dom was behind the drums, Theo was behind a keyboard, and Casey and RJ had guitars in hand.

"What the…" she murmured as the opening chords of a song flowed up followed quickly by RJ, Dom, and Casey singing.

_All princes start as frogs _

_and all gentlemen as dogs  
Just wait till its plain to see  
What we're growing up to be  
Cause some frogs will still be frogs  
And some dogs will still be dogs  
Some boys could become men  
Just don't kiss us 'til then_

Kim gaped at them; eyes wide as the four men went silent, focusing on their instruments. Finally, RJ grinned up at her.

_You hate men is what you say _

_and I understand how you feel that way  
All girls dream of a fairy tale  
But what you've got's like a used car salesman  
Trying to conceal what's wrong behind a smile and the song  
And I'm not saying that boys are not like that  
But I think you should know (you should)  
That some of us will grow  
Because. . ._

RJ was suddenly joined by Casey and Dom.

_All princes start as frogs and all gentlemen as dogs  
Just wait till its plain to see  
What we're growing up to be  
Cause Some frogs will still be frogs  
And Some dogs will still be dogs  
Some boys could become men  
Just don't kiss us 'til then._

From next to RJ, Casey went next.

_You found him is what you say  
And we all want you to feel that way  
But the frog you've got seems cute enough to kiss  
And maybe frogs seem like that's all their is  
But just because you haven't found your prince yet  
Doesn't mean you're still not a princess  
And what if if your prince comes riding in  
While you're kissin' a frog what's he gonna think then  
So look into his eyes  
Are you a princess or a fly?_

As Kim started laughing, Casey was joined by Dom and RJ.

_All princes start as frogs and all gentlemen as dogs  
Just wait till its plain to see  
What we're growing up to be  
Cause Some frogs will still be frogs  
And Some dogs will still be dogs  
Some boys could become men  
Just don't kiss us 'til then._

The music faded and the lights came back on. Kim wiped tears of laughter from her eyes as she stared down at the four guys.

"Did you like it? Theo asked hopefully. Kim just giggled.

* * *

"Hey, whats that?" Lily asked as the sounds of a guitar floated from the Loft. RJ looked around, saw everyone but Kim was in the kitchen, and smiled.

"She must have grabbed her guitar," he replied happily. Lily smiled as Casey looked up.

"She plays too?" he asked, eyes bright. RJ smirked.

"Who do you think taught me?" he asked Casey grinned. Wiping his hands on a towel, he sped past Lily and upstairs. Lily just smiled and moved over to take his place.

* * *

"Hey, Kim, what are you playing?" Casey asked curiously, when he found the original pink in the middle of the loft, a pink and white guitar in hand, papers around her. Kim looked up and smiled at him.

"A new song," she replied, looking down at her notes. Casey looked surprised.

"You write your own stuff?" he asked, moving down to sit in front of her. She nodded.

"Have since high school," she said. She paused a moment. "Want to hear the first song I ever wrote?"

"Sure!" he agreed, grinning. Kim smiled and adjusted her guitar quickly.

_Down the road,_

_We never know_

_What life may have in store_

_Wind of change_

_Will rearrange _

_Our lives more than before_

_But you'll never stand alone my friends_

_Memories never die_

_And in our hearts_

_They'll always live_

_And never say goodbye_

"Wow," Casey smiled. "That's awesome!"

"I wrote it right after Tommy lost his green powers," she told him. "I wanted him to know we'd always be there for him, powers or no powers. Just like I'll always be here for you guys."

"So, you don't mind moving here to help?" he asked. He'd been wondering about that for a while now. Kim smiled at him.

"At first it was a little odd," she admitted. "But this is home now. You guys are home now."

Casey nodded, a small smile on his face. "You guys are my home too," he told her quietly and she smiled at him. "So what are you working on?"

Kim grinned and showed him what she had so far. Glancing up, she saw RJ's proud and happy expression and winked. He grinned and disappeared back downstairs. Kim turned back to Casey when he spoke.

"What about this…"

* * *

"I wonder what they did all day," Theo said. They'd just finished cleaning up. Casey had never returned to work but RJ had said it was alright. He and Kim were relaxing together, something they both needed. Theo was a bit irritated that he and Lily hadn't gotten some time off too but knew it was pointless to argue. Especially since RJ had then added that Lily and Theo could have the next day off while Casey and Kim worked.

"They were working on a project of Kim's, I think," RJ replied as they entered the loft. All looked down where Casey and Kim were sitting cross-legged across from each other. Each was holding a guitar. RJ motioned for them to be quiet and they did.

"Ready?" Kim asked, a small smile on her face.

"Lets see if this is gonna mesh," Casey replied. The two began playing. Kim began singing softly. Casey joined her halfway through the song until they switched back and forth and sang the chorus together.

_I've got my memories  
Always inside of me  
But I can't go back, back to how it was_

_I believe now  
I've come too far  
No I can't go back, back to how it was_

_Created for a place I've never known  
This is home  
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong  
Yeah this is home, I've been searching for a place of my own,  
Now I found it, maybe this is home  
Yes this is home_

_Belief over misery  
I've seen the enemy  
And I won't go back, back to how it was_

_And I got my heart set on what happens next  
I got my eyes wide it's not over yet  
We are miracles, and we're not alone_

_Yah this is home, now I'm finally where I belong  
Yea this is home, I've been searching for a place of my own,  
Now I found it, maybe this is home  
Yes this is home_

_And now, after all my searching  
After all my questions  
I'm going to call it home  
I got a brand new mind set  
I can finally see the sunset  
I'm gonna call it home_

_Home, this is home  
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong  
Yeah this is home,  
I've been searching for a place of my own  
Now I found it,  
Maybe this is home  
This is home_

_Now I know  
Yeah this is home_

_I've come too far  
And I wont go back  
Yeah this is home_


	17. CH 17: Seperate Ways Worlds Apart

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Hey Kimberly!" Fran chirped as she walked into the Loft. Fran let out a strangled shriek when Kimberly dashed forward, a dagger at her throat.

"I don't know who you think you are, but get out of her form!" Kimberly growled. Fran whimpered as she looked up at her in fear. Kimberly frowned, a confused look on her face. She breathed deeply as she closed her eyes. A second later she snapped them open and scrambled back, wide-eyed.

"You're dead!!" she exclaimed, confused. Fran stared at her, mouth slightly agape.

"No, she's not," a very familiar voice said from the kitchenette. Kimberly looked up and nearly fainted. Standing there, arms folded, and an angry if bemused look on her face, was _another_ Kimberly. Behind her, looking intrigued and confused, was RJ, Casey, Theo, and Lily. Kimberly swallowed as tears sprang to her eyes. She shook her head.

"No, no, no, this isn't possible," she whispered. "It's a trick of Dai Shi's."

The rangers and Fran all started at that but the other Kimberly looked resigned, like she had figured something out.

"Why does this always happen to me?" she asked no one in particular. RJ looked at her in concern as Kimberly's eyes widened.

"Oh, I didn't…." she murmured. The other Kimberly nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid so," she murmured, moving down to help up Fran. Kimberly sighed as she watched the two enviously.

"I'm not in my world," she whispered and the other Kimberly nodded as RJ tilted his head as the puzzle came together.

"Okay, I'm confused," Casey butted in, his hand raised in the air. Both Kimberly's turned to him with a raised eyebrow and he stepped back. "That's just freaky."

"They're both Kimberly, but she's from a different world, one where Fran died, I take it?" RJ asked and Kimberly nodded.

"So did you," she murmured, a pained look on her face. RJ's eyes widened. She motioned to the three teens. "And you three never came back from the Spirit realm."

"Until we get you out of here, you're Kimberly, I'm Kim," the other Kim suddenly said, a pensive expression on her face as she ignored the semi-horrified looks on the teens faces. At Kimberly's raised eyebrow, Kim just smirked. "My reality, my rules."

Kimberly snorted as the teens just gaped. RJ suddenly blanched, causing the two women to look at him in concern.

"What is it?" Kim asked and RJ swallowed.

"Now I have two big sisters!" he groaned. Kim snickered but Kimberly just looked a little heartbroken.

"Wait a second, if we never came back, and RJ and Fran died, then what happened with Dai Shi?" Casey asked, looking worried. Kimberly grimaced and held up her wrist where a pink morpher sat. Kim stared at her incredulously.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" she groaned and Kimberly nodded, a small smirk on her face.

"Who's your team?" RJ asked curiously, as Dominic wandered into the Loft. Kimberly smiled slightly at his double take.

"Dom, Dad, Swoop, and Phant," she murmured. RJ and Kim both grimaced.

"Bad mental images," they murmured at the same time, causing Kimberly and Casey to both snicker. Kimberly froze, looking pained again. Kim gave her a sympathetic look and then motioned for the teens to leave.

"Go, skedaddle, I'll call Billy and figure out how to send her home," she told them. Casey, Lily, Theo, and Fran all left after sending Kimberly one last curious look. RJ and Dom hesitated but Kim stood firm.

"Go, work, explain to Dom that he's not hallucinating and yes, there are two of us," she said. When they still didn't move, Kim sighed exasperatedly. "This isn't the first time I, we, got sent someplace on accident."

"At least there's working toilets this time," Kimberly offered wryly and Kim smirked.

"Outhouses are gross," she agreed. Once the two male rangers had left, the two women just looked at each other.

* * *

"Fascinating," Billy murmured, staring at the two women in awe. Kim grimaced from where she stood in his office.

"You say fascinating, I say weird," she murmured. Next to her, Kimberly nodded her agreement. For all intents and purposes, they were the same person. The only differences they had found was their appearance…and the fact Kimberly was not the Jungle Guardian, but a Jungle Fury Ranger.

Where Kim's hair was long, Kimberly's hair just brushed her shoulders. Additionally, she had three scars Kim did not have. And her outfit was simply…odd. Nothing Kim could see herself wearing in this universe but figure could happen if she had gone through what Kimberly had in the other universe.

"So Casey, Theo, Lily, Fran, and RJ are all…dead…in your reality?" Billy asked, stumbling slightly over the distasteful word. Kimberly nodded, pain in her eyes.

"Have you and dad hashed out your differences?" Kim asked curiously. Kimberly snorted.

"Not even remotely; we bicker all the time. It drives Swoop up the wall. Literally, on occasion," she added with a wry smile. Kim smirked.

"At least some things are still the same," she murmured and Kimberly snickered. Billy just looked between them in amusement.

"Let's got to the Loft," he suggested, standing up and adjusting his glasses. "I want to see if there is any residual rift energy to explain how you were transported to our dimension."

"Whatever you say, Billy," Kim said, moving forward. Kimberly hesitated before joining the trio. The three teleported back to the Loft. As Billy moved around, the two women moved to the bean bag chair.

"You know, I think this is the weirdest thing that's happened to us yet," Kim murmured.

"Oh yeah," she agreed. The two were quiet for a moment, watching as Billy went over the Loft with his little scanner.

"I never asked to come back," Kimberly said softly, abruptly. "I wish everyday I hadn't had to."

Kim didn't reply; she _couldn't_ reply. She herself didn't want to return as a full time ranger like RJ or Dom and she couldn't imagine doing so with Dom, her father, and two men she barely knew.

"Losing them destroyed me," she said again. "Don't let history repeat itself here."

"I'll try not to," Kim replied softly and Kimberly nodded.

"How bad is it for you?" Kim asked and Kimberly grimaced.

"There was one battle recently…" she trailed off, looking deeply unhappy. Kim swallowed.

"What happened?" she asked, unable to help herself. Kimberly bit her lip, tears in her eyes.

"Dom was hurt trying to shield me," she said softly, "Swoop brought him back to the Loft and I was brought here when I teleported to try and see if he was okay."

The woman's eyes traveled up to the kitchenette where the aforementioned ranger and RJ had just appeared. Kim's eyes widened at the look in her counterpoints eyes.

"Oh," she whispered, looking pole-axed. "That's a complication I really don't need at this point."

"It just…happened," she shrugged. "We were talking about Rage and…."

Kim bit her lip as Kimberly trailed off, a small smile on her face as she remembered. "I'm dealing with Jason and Adam right now," she confessed as Casey joined RJ and Dom in the kitchenette. Kimberly snapped from her daze, turning to Kim.

"Jason? Really?" she asked, surprised. Kim nodded, looking bemused.

"You don't seem surprised by Adam," she observed and Kimberly shrugged.

"We tried, but with everything that happened, it was too different. I was too different. I don't…I don't talk to any of them all that much," she confessed. Kim bit her lip. "That doesn't mean it won't work for you here, though."

"But if it didn't work between you and Adam and you're technically me…" she trailed off, looking unhappy. Kimberly leaned forward; the two counterparts were unaware the three male rangers were listening in.

"Kim, let me tell you something," she said. "Rage and the kids' deaths…it destroyed me. I'm not the same person you still are. I've seen too much, faced too much, to go back to who I was when I walked through JKP and met Casey.

"But you and the team, you still have hope. We're fighting a losing battle; all five of us know that. We lost our war the day we lost Rage, Fran, Casey, Theo, and Lily. Dominic and I, we're know that we're not going to survive this fight, so we're living every day to the max, together. When we fall, Dai Shi and the Overlords will be take out, I can promise you that, but we won't be around to see it. I'm not afraid of dying; I dealt with that fear when I lost my brother."

"Then what are you afraid of?" Kim whispered, her voice pained. Kimberly's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm afraid I'll get back and he'll be gone. I'm afraid, I'll go back and my lover won't be there to make some wise ass remark about Rhino's having tough hides," she said, wiping away a stray tear. Kim felt tears come to her own eyes and she leaned forward to hug her counterpoint. When Kimberly pulled away, she wiped at her eyes again.

"So, point is, you need to take your chance with Adam. I don't know what happened with Jason, but if things went the same way here as they did in my world, then its rebound on his part, nothing more though he may want their to be," she told her. Kim nodded, wiping at her own eyes. A voice cleared and the girls looked up to find Billy shifting on his feet.

"I can send you home now," he told her, his voice calm and quiet, not betraying the fact he had overheard everything. Kimberly smiled at him.

"I knew you could," she agreed. The two girls straightened as Casey disappeared downstairs. A few minutes later, he returned with Theo, Lily, and Fran.

One by one, they moved forward to hug her, knowing how much it would mean to the pink ranger. Kimberly buried her face in RJ's chest and he simply held her, knowing she was finally letting go of his death in her world. Finally, she faced off with Dominic. He stepped forward, his face unreadable. She tensed as he wrapped his arms around her but relaxed a minute later.

"We Rhino's have tough hides," he whispered and she choked on a cry. "He'll be fine, you'll see."

"Thank you," she whispered, going to move back. Behind them, Kim raised a surprised eyebrow as Dom leaned down and kissed her alternate gently.

"Go to him," he whispered against her lips and Kimberly nodded. Dom stepped back, arms wrapped around his middle as RJ laid a supportive and proud hand on his shoulder.

Kim stepped up. The two women simply stared for a long moment before lunging forward. They hugged for what seemed like forever but were only a few minutes.

"Hold onto them Kim," Kimberly said softly against her counterpoints shoulder. "For both our sakes."

"Keep the hope and know we're with you," Kim replied in kind. The two separated as a multi-colored portal appeared nearby. Without a word, Kimberly morphed. Unlike the others armor, Kimberly's Jungle Fury uniform was dark pink with gold lining and seemed a surprising blend of ninjetti and Pua Zhua. Without another word, Kimberly walked through the portal and disappeared.


	18. CH 18: Girls Just Want to Have Fun

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Hey," Kim greeted Dom when he came into the kitchen. He and she had become a bit closer since the alternate Kimberly's visit, much to RJ's concern. She knew he was worried about a relationship forming but she wasn't; dating Dom would be like dating Rocky and that just wasn't going to happen. The only reason she hadn't told her brother that yet was because she and Dom both found his agitation highly amusing.

"Hey," he greeted back, wiping his face as he sat down on a barstool. Kim raised an eyebrow and handed him a glass of orange juice.

"You look wiped," she commented and he nodded.

"I'm not used to this…schedule," he admitted. Kim smirked slightly.

"Masochist," she agreed sagely. He looked at her oddly but she waved it away.

"So, what are you up for today?" he asked and she grinned.

"Relaxation day," she said, hopping onto the counter. He paused, looking at her.

"Relaxation day?" he asked curiously.

"I'm taking Lily and Fran to the mall this morning," she beamed at him. Dom grimaced, remembering RJ's horror stories of his sisters shopping habits. Kim ignored him. "Then I'm going to take Casey and Theo to see the Journey to the Center of the Earth this afternoon."

"What about me and RJ?" he inquired and Kim paused.

"We're going bowling tonight while the kids train with Tommy and Adam," she informed him impishly and Dom grinned.

"Sweet!"

* * *

"What about this one?" Lily asked, holding a black and yellow blouse up to her chest. Kim glanced over and grinned.

"Looks great Lil's!" she agreed before turning back to the changing room when Fran walked out. Kim grinned as Fran shifted.

"Are you sure? I feel so…different," Fran murmured. She was wearing a black fairy skirt and a dark green top with "Bookworm" in black lettering across the chest. Kim grinned.

"I know you don't wear skirts often but it looks good on you," Kim told her. Fran bit her lip and turned to the full length mirror. She froze as a guy appeared behind her.

"Hi," he grinned at Fran. Off to the side, Lily and Kim exchanged looks as Fran stuttered.

"H-hi," she murmured, worrying her teeth. He grinned at her, his brown hair short and messy, his green eyes twinkling.

"I'm Adam," he introduced himself, his accent more pronounced with the additional words.

"Are you from New Zealand?" Fran blurted out, her eyes wide. Adam grinned at her, looking pleased.

"Most of the time people think I'm from Australia," he told her with a small smile. She blushed.

"Fran, Lily and I are going to go look at some blouses," Kim butted in quietly, her eyes sparkling. The guy, Adam, reminded Kim strongly of someone but she couldn't figure out who. "We'll see you over in the jeans."

"Oh, okay," she agreed hesitantly, blushing as Adam's eyes lit up. Kim glanced over her shoulder as they left and grinned; Fran was smiling.

* * *

"Have a nice chat?" Kim asked when Fran finally found them in another store half an hour later. Fran blushed, hugging a shopping bag to her chest.

"So?" Lily asked, pouncing on the poor girl. Fran's face turned red.

"He's eighteen, born and raised in New Zealand, and likes reading," she murmured. "He just came off a relationship with another girl when they moved though so don't get any ideas."

She sounded stern when she said the last part and the two female rangers exchanged looks.

"Who?" Kim asked.

"Us?" Lily finished, looking innocent. Fran snorted.

"Yes, you," she agreed. Kim smirked as Lily and Fran began arguing about meddling. Fran was really coming out of her shell.

* * *

"How was the movie?" RJ asked when Kim, Casey, and Theo arrived back in the loft. Casey grinned.

"I liked it, Kim adored the bird, and Theo thinks it's too fantastical," he reported as the three plopped down on the floor. Dom chuckled.

"It's a fantasy movie, Theo, of course it's gonna be fantastical," he told him. Theo simply glowered.

"It could have been better," he muttered.

"Says the guy who jumped a mile when the fish began flying," Kim remarked. Casey smirked as Theo raised an eyebrow.

"At least I didn't hide behind my hands when the T-rex was chasing the kid!" he retorted, causing Casey to choke on a laugh.

"You two are hilarious, you realize this, right?" he asked, looking amused. Kim and Theo turned on him.

"Well, at least we didn't get choked up when they found his dad," Theo said haughtily. Casey's eyes widened.

"Or throw popcorn in the air when the kid woke up by the fish," Kim added.

"Or yell at the screen when the kid was going into the cavern," Theo told him.

"Uh, Theo, that was you," Kim reminded him and he frowned.

"Oh, right," he realized. RJ, Dom, Fran, and Lily simply laughed.

* * *

"Spare!" Dom grinned as he danced his way back to the siblings. Kim rolled her eyes as RJ stood up.

"Watch and learn, little Rhino," he told him haughtily. Kim rolled her eyes again. RJ's first throw knocked down seven of the pins, leaving the three corners up.

"He couldn't do that again if he tried," Kim murmured to Dom when her brother successfully knocked down all three pins for a spare. Dom frowned.

"I'm still trying to figure out how those three stayed up when everything else fell down," he muttered back as she stood up. Kim smirked at the two guys.

"Watch and learn, boys," she informed them with a grin. Both Pua Zhua grinned good-naturedly and when her back was turned, shook their heads at each other.

"I saw that," she called out and she threw her bright pink ball. Both boys stared, slack-jawed, as she got a strike. She turned around, the group of college guys next to them hooting in laughter at her brother and friend.

"Why don't we make this interesting?" she asked, looking smug. The guys stared at her. "For every strike, the other two have to pay up ten bucks."

"So if I get a strike, both of you give me ten?" Dom asked and Kim nodded. Dom grinned. "Count me in!"

RJ nodded at her, telling her the same as Dom shot to the lane, ball in hand.

"This should be interesting," a waitress said as she passed by. Kim smirked at her and turned back when Dom let our a woop. Kim smiled good naturedly as she dug in her purse for a ten.

* * *

"How is it RJ beat us by forty bucks?" Dom asked Kim in a whisper as the three adults walked into the loft. RJ yawned, not paying attention to their conversation as he checked on the doors.

"Cause he's RJ," she whispered back as they passed Casey asleep in his hammock. Up by the kitchenette, Theo snored away on his bean bag chairs. Kim poked her head through Lily's door and saw her and Fran curled up on the bed, looking peaceful. She said goodbye to the two guys and closed her door.

She was asleep minutes after her head hit the pillow.


	19. CH 19: In the Dark of the Night

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

Kim yawned as she walked into the kitchen; while she had greatly enjoyed the chance to wind down, getting in at 3am when she had to work in the morning probably hadn't been her best idea.

"Morning!" Lily greeted Dom cheerfully as he stumbled into the room after her. The pink ranger grinned in thanks as Casey handed Kim a cup of coffee and Dom a cup of orange juice. Dom grunted.

"Thanks," he said, taking a long gulp. Kim took a sip of her coffee as Dom put his cup down, a pensive expression on his face.

"Last night, I dreamt of Master Mao," Dom blurted out. Theo shot up, looking concerned.

"Master Mao?" Theo asked, his voice guarded.

"What did he say?" Lily asked.

"It was more like a memory of the day I left Pua Zhua," Dom said. Kim moved to the corner; it was times like these she felt the major differences between her life and theirs. "He gave me a control dagger."

"The what dagger?" Casey asked, confused.

"The control dagger," he replied. "It's an ancient blade about yay big. All he said was that someday, it'll help guide you on your path."

"Maybe it's not just a legend," RJ said, sounding thoughtful. Everyone turned down to the loft, where RJ was meditating.

"Whats not just a legend?" Dom asked as everyone moved to the railing.

"The dagger, it controls the rhino nexus." At there looks, he elaborated.

"You see, in the Jungle of Spirits, there's a massive tree. And at the top, the powers of the Rhino. Without the dagger, no one gets through. But if you have the dagger, you're sweet, you go straight in," he paused, taking in everyone's expressions. "That's the legend, anyway."

"And I posses the Spirit of the Rhino," Dom said, looking at the teens and Kimberly. "So unlocking the powers of the Rhino is…my destiny."

"So…," Theo began, "where is the dagger?"

"Oh, don't worry, I keep it in a very very safe place," Dom said. "I'll be back!"

"Maybe I'll just go with you," Theo said, following the Rhino ranger. Kim rolled her eyes but didn't comment when she saw RJ's approving expression. She had been keeping a very hands off approach to mentoring since her blow up when Dom joined. In fact, she was acting more like an in-the-know ally these days than a true mentor. She wasn't sure how to go about acting mentor like but without stepping on her brother's toes again.

"Kim, can I talk to you?" RJ asked, breaking Kim from her thoughts. Kim nodded and the two siblings moved off.

"What's up?" Once they were settled on the mat, legs crossed as they faced each other.

"I'm worried about Dom," he said. Kim frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Dom, while adjusting to living here, is keeping himself from growing close to any of us. The fact he was going to go after the dagger on his own is proof of that," he replied. Kim's eyes widened as she understood.

"He is but I think that's just his way," she said. RJ raised an eyebrow and Kim smiled. "Rhino's aren't pack animals like you and the cubs, RJ."

"Good point," he acquiesced, looking thoughtful. "I hadn't considered that."

"He knows he's part of a team, but he's like me; he needs his space among all you pack animals," she told him, her eyes twinkling. RJ rolled his eyes as he smiled.

"Anything else?" she asked, shifting. RJ smiled slightly.

"Have you chosen?" he asked, having noticed she'd been much more relaxed since the alternate Kimberly had shown up.

"I have," she agreed, a small smile playing on her lips. RJ raised an eyebrow as he waited. "You'll have to wait and see."

"Damn," he muttered. Kim smirked as she stood.

"No living through me, little brother," she informed him. "Go find your own significant other."

* * *

"Okay, if I get squished, I'm gonna be mad," Kimberly muttered as she raced up to the battle next to Dom.

"What are you doing here?" RJ asked, turning to Kim. She gave him a small smile.

"The Crane!" she muttered and with a flash of light, was dressed in her Ninjetti uniform.

"Rangers, I have an idea!" Kim called, ignoring the two men beside her.

"What is it Kim?" Casey asked, turning the MegaZord to stare down at her.

"Use my crane!" she shouted back just as a pink, gold, and white crane zord materialized.

"Can we?" Lily asked, surprised.

"This isn't my old zord, it's my spirit," Kim replied.

"Cool!" Casey enthused. "Let's do it guys!"

Kim smiled beneath her cowl as the Crane connected to the back of the zord like Swoops bat did on the other MegaZord. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her brother's helmet.

"You're really improving on your technique, sis."

* * *

"RJ, Master Mao said the dagger was to help me find my destiny, _not_ Dai Shi's," he told him. RJ shrugged.

"They may be intertwined," he replied before walking off to pack.

"Dom, don't worry, it's probably not that bad," Kim told him, placing a hand on his arm. Dom frowned.

"But I don't want to be intertwined with Dai Shi," he argued. Kim smiled slightly.

"When this is all over, I want you to talk to Adam about his issues with Scorpina," she told him softly. Dom looked confused.

"I don't understand," he replied.

"Scorpina was an assassin sent to kill Adam when we were rangers. It didn't work out quite the way they planned though," was all she said before walking away.

* * *

"Are you sure you're going to be okay alone?" Kim asked Fran for the fifth time. Kim had decided to go with the rangers to the nexus and wasn't very happy about leaving the girl to fend for herself. Fran rolled her eyes.

"Aisha, Kat, and Adam said they're coming to help," she reminded her. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

* * *

"Now this is the way to travel!" Kim giggled as they flew. She was in her ninjetti uniform and was huddling down behind the five rangers. A sudden bump sent her careening into RJ who steadied them both.

"What was that?!" Casey shouted, struggling to remain upright.

"The Overlords! They passed us!" Lily yelled.

"They're heading to the Rhino nexus too," Casey realized. "We have to beat them there."

"Use my Crane for extra speed," Kim told him and Casey nodded. Within minutes, the crane spirit had attached itself to the back of the Zord, directly on top of the Bat spirit. The added wing power caused them all to stumble a bit as they adjusted.

"Hey guys, there's a monster in front of us," Kimberly called, her head tilted as she studied the Overlord.

"Grizzaka," RJ muttered.

"Damnit, they're getting away!" Casey yelled, his head looking off to the side. Kim moved over and saw what he meant. Sending her brother a look, she jumped from the zord and ran after to two villains.

"Hey Lizard breath!!" Kimberly called her voice casual even though they had successfully opened the nexus. Dai Shi and Camille both whirled around, giving Kimberly her first look at the man who'd been possessed.

"You're pretty good looking for an evil guy," she commented, folding her arms. Dai Shi simply stared at her, confused, while Camille glowered. Kimberly grinned. "But that's not saying much seeing as how the last evil dude I fought against had his muscles on the _outside_."

"Go, Dai Shi, I'll handle the interloper," Camille said, giving the Lion Master a small smirk. Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"What makes you think you can handle me? You couldn't last time we fought," Kim reminded her, noting that Dai Shi had moved off but was watching them. Camille smirked.

"I've been training," she replied as she transformed into her monster form. Kim narrowed her eyes as she dropped into a fighting stance.

"Bring it," she said.

* * *

Dai Shi watched the woman fighting Camille carefully. He knew she wasn't a Pua Zhua; there were no Crane Master's or students that he knew of. And her uniform was unlike anything he had ever seen. Despite all this, it pained him to admit she was more than a match for his Chameleon. Camille couldn't get the upper hand; was in fact barely able to touch the woman as she moved quickly and efficiently around his lady. He absently noted various moves she performed for future reference.

She was an excellent warrior, a woman worthy of his attention. Without warning, he swiped the dagger in the direction of the woman. She cried out as the power tossed her back ten feet, causing her to lose her pink uniform. Landing on the ground, she looked up at him, her eyes defiant.

"Enough of this!" he growled as Camille stumbled over to him. Another quick thrust of the dagger and the woman was unconscious but not dead. He moved over to her and hefted her over his shoulder.

"She will be useful," he said when he saw Camille's expression. She bowed her head in submission.

"Of course, Dai Shi."

* * *

When they found the giant statue, Dai Shi laid the woman down amongst the reeds and Camille immediately moved to guard her. In the ensuing power upgrade and zord activation, Dai Shi was pleased to see that Dominic failed to notice the demorphed woman behind Camille. Using his new powers, he placed the woman in a dark web, sending her to the temple dungeons to await him.


	20. CH 20: Fly On The Wall

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"Guys, where's Kimberly?" RJ asked. Casey looked around.

"Didn't she go after Dai Shi and Camille?" he asked, looking nervous. RJ nodded.

"I haven't seen her since," RJ agreed.

"Hey guys!" Dominic said, hurrying over from where he was talking with the Rhino.

"Dom, did you see Kimberly?" RJ asked worriedly. Dom skid to a stop, looking worried.

"She's missing?" he asked and RJ nodded. Theo frowned and ran off, rising into the air. The rangers watched him hopefully as he scanned the area. Finally, he landed.

"She's not here!" he told them breathlessly, his eyes worried. RJ swallowed and turned to Dom.

"You didn't see her with Dai Shi?" he asked and Dom began shaking his head before he stopped suddenly, his eyes going wide.

"Camille was standing a few feet behind Dai Shi, in a patch of tall grass," he told him, looking horrified. "Kim could have been in the grass."

"So Dai Shi has Kimberly."

* * *

Dai Shi smirked as he heard the conversation behind the door. Glancing to his right, he saw and felt Camille's presence. A quick glance to the left assured him that the recently turned Creda was standing on his other side. Zukado had enabled him to warp the woman's mind. She would still have her own personality, but she would follow him without question now.

Smirking, Dai Shi tossed the doors open with a burst of Zukado power and the three stalked inside.

"Go ahead, destroy Jellica. That's always been your problem, Grizzaka, you destroy what you cannot have," he said. "I'm here to take back my throne before you destroy that, too."

"You dare to lecture me!" Grizzaka yelled, moving forward. "Your incompetence made us lose the Beast War!"

"You recognize that power? It's Zukado," he said, smirking, as the overlord went flying.

"You're wasting my energy! I have Power Rangers to destroy!" Grizzaka said and he an Jellica left.

"Good luck," Dai Shi and Creda muttered at the same time. Dai Shi smirked as Camille glared at the girl.

"Maybe I should change Creda's…attire," Camille suggested as Dai Shi sat down in his throne.

"Do it but don't get too comfortable," Dai Shi ordered. "Grizzaka is gathering more strength. I need to get the upper hand before he returns. He'll destroy all three of us."

Camille snapped her fingers and a group of Rinshi appeared. She turned to them. "I have to help Dai Shi. Take Creda to…fix….her attire. The magenta version of my outfit should do," she said.

"Oh please, like you know fashion?" Creda said from her place at Dai Shi's feet. "You look like a dominatrix. A badly dressed on."

Dai Shi laughed as Camille glowered. "And you have your own ideas?" she snapped and Creda nodded.

"With your permission Dai Shi I'll change from these…clothes," she wrinkled her nose a bit. Dai Shi laughed again and motioned for her to leave. He decided then and there that turning the woman evil was one of his most brilliant ideas, if only for the rivalry she already had with Camille.

* * *

"Where'd she go?" Casey said, running through the forest. Finally, he spotted her, back to human form. She stopped by a tree and Casey stopped breathing. Dai Shi stepping from behind the tree wasn't surprising but the fact Kimberly was by his side was. She was almost recognizable but to someone who knew her as well as Casey did, he knew it was her.

Her hair was back in a French braid, silver and dark pink streaks running through it. Her outfit was like Camille's only her skirt was extremely short, she wore knee high black heeled boots, and her armbands were dark pink.

"Oh, no," he muttered when he saw Kimberly was standing almost protectively by Dai Shi's side, a sadistic little smirk on her face. Shaking his head, Casey moved back as the trio started walking away.

Casey ran towards them, calling Jungle Master Mode as he did so. Dai Shi looked up from where he'd placed the Crystal Eyes and armored up.

* * *

"Could this be the greatest match up of all time?" Flit asked as he, Camille, and Creda moved to watch the zord battle.

Both women turned when they felt Dai Shi come up between them.

"Woops, four's a crowd, I'm outta here!" Flit squeaked, flying off.

"I lost the Crystal eyes," he said and Camille turned to him in shock. Creda simply placed a hand on his arm before turning back to the battle. As Grizzaka fell, Camille and Dai Shi smirked while Creda's expression didn't change.

"A new era has begun," Dai Shi said, smirking at his women. The three left.

* * *

"She wants us to take care of them!" Casey said brightly as he approached RJ with the eyes. RJ smiled though there was a still a sadness around him. After the battle, Casey had told them what he had seen when he fought Camille. Theo, Lily, and Dom hadn't been able to believe Kim had been turned evil at first but RJ had told them it wasn't the first time it'd happened. Allies had been turned against rangers several times before and Kim herself had nearly killed her successor when she and Jason had been turned evil.

"….you could have lost the eyes," Casey came back to what RJ was saying.

"Maybe, but my instincts told me it was a gamble I could win," he replied. RJ smiled.

"Oh, well, then, you've got some sharp instincts," he said, moving away. "And Kim's luck has rubbed off on you."

"We'll get her back, RJ, I promise," Casey said as they left the building. RJ nodded.

"I'm more worried about where those other Crystal Eyes are," he said. "My sister can take care of herself."


	21. CH 21: Just Died in Your Arms

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: ***Gapes at all the reviews* ...Thanks everyone!

* * *

"They've searched the entire Temple," Camille said, moving through the Rinshi to Dai Shi. "Jellica must be gone."

"No, she's hiding."

* * *

Creda watched from the shadows as Jellica revived the Phantom Beasts. Before they fully formed, Creda moved forward and knocked her staff onto Jellica's head, knocking her out.

"Welcome, I am Creda, Mistress of the Crane and Lady of Dai Shi," Creda said, facing the Beasts. "By Dai Shi's orders, you have been revived and thus, by the ancient laws, you shall serve him."

"Creda, I am Phantom Beast General Snapper, Spirit of the Snapping Turtle!": the first said, bowing.

"General Whiger, Spirit of the White Tiger!"

"General Scorch, Sprit of the Avalon Dragon!"

"You're first task is to destroy the enemy of Dai Shi, Jellica, though she is to believe she is your master until you meet Dai Shi," she ordered and the Beasts bowed. As Jellica stired, Creda moved to the shadows.

"What happened!" she said, getting to her feet.

"A woman attacked you as we formed. We know our true Master, what is it you wish of us?" Snapper said, moving forward. Smirking, Creda left.

* * *

Dai Shi appeared confused as the Beasts killed Jellica instead of him.

"We are the Phantom Beast Generals, served by eight Phantom Beast Warriors!" Scorch said. As the warriors introduced themselves, Creda moved into the room, using the shadows to her advantage.

"Our ancient Power of Rinsien is even greater than Zukado," Scorch informed him haughtily. "It is our life blood!"

"We ask that you, Great Dai Shi, become our Phantom Beast King!" Whiger told him.

"Me? Your king?" he asked, shocked. "For years you tried to destroy me. Why should I trust you now?"

"Because you ordered them brought back, Dai," Creda said, stepping into the light. She inspected her nails. "It was by your mercy that they returned."

Dai Shi smirked at Creda, understanding that this was all her plan. Camille glared at the woman as she moved forward to stand beside Dai Shi.

"You want my trust, you have to earn it!" Dai Shi said suddenly, turning to the Phantom Beasts. Therefore he and Camille didn't see Creda roll her eyes.

"Together with our warrior Somorax, we shall prove our loyalty!" he said and Dai Shi smirked. "Tell us what to do."

"Bring me the other three Masters," he ordered and Creda blinked in surprise. "If I can turn them as I did Master Wing, the Rangers won't know what hit them!"

"I have a better idea, Dai Shi," Creda smirked. Dai Shi turned to her. "Get the Masters, yes, but use the Phantom Beasts powers to turn them into something much more dangerous to the rangers."

* * *

Creda struggled as she was forced into the position alongside her father. "Dai Shi, what are you doing!" she demanded as she was shackled. Dai Shi smirked.

"Do not play games with me Master Wing; I know Zukado did not work on you," he informed her coldly. Kimberly made a face.

"Apparently my acting skills aren't as good as I thought," she muttered. Finn made an exasperated sigh next to her.

"You went undercover without telling RJ?" he asked and Kim smiled sheepishly at him.

"I told Adam, who, yeah, yelled at me and said it was stupid, but we needed to know what the heck was going on! And if RJ is smart, he should realize what I did!" she defended herself. Finn just rolled his eyes as a Rinshi hopped in, three crystal eyes in his grasp. The Three Phantom Beasts entered to stand in front of the three true Masters while two of the Phantom Warriors took there place in front of Kimberly.

"My Zukado may not have turned you, Kimberly, but the Rinsin power will turn all four of you!" Dai Shi said as the five monsters powered up. Kimberly's eyes widened.

"Maybe I should have listened to Adam."

* * *

"The bigger question is why," RJ said. He and the other four rangers were standing in the industrial district. "Why would he take the Masters and Kimberly in the first place?"

"I don't know about the Master's but Kim's our Guardian," Theo reminded him. "If he destroys her, we'll lose our powers!"

"Dai Shi doesn't know that, though, right?" Dom asked. "I mean, he just thinks she's our mentor and another Master."

"My guess is he knows there's something different about her, knows she's powerful in her own right," Casey said. "I doubt he knows exactly what she is though or what it means."

"But she's evil now," Lily reminded them unhappily. "She could have told him."

RJ shook his head. "I doubt it," he said. "Kim would fight beak and claw before revealing that."

A sudden bolt of lightning caught the five rangers by surprise as they fell to the ground. As Casey struggled up, he saw three figures emerging from the smoke. He swallowed back bile.

"They look like…Power Rangers."


	22. CH 22: Part of Your World

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!

* * *

"WHERE'D SHE GO?!" Dai Shi demanded when Kimberly disappeared. The three Masters stepped forward. Dai Shi ignored them as they fought against the faraway rangers. Kimberly disappearing hadn't been part of the plan and he wanted to know what had happened.

"Dai Shi…," Camille began but one look from the man silenced her.

"I don't care about your petty rivalry with her, Camille," Dai Shi informed her with glare. "She has more power than you can imagine; if I can harness it, this world will bow to my feet."

"The Power isn't yours."

Dai Shi turned around, taking in the ghostly form of Master Mao. "What do you want, Mao?" he growled.

"The Power is not yours Jarrod, and you will never be able to harness it," Master Mao told him. "The power Master Wing possesses is older than you or I or the Order and it is free of evil."

"Not for long," Dai Shi growled. Master Mao sighed as another spirit appeared beside him. Dai Shi and Camille's eyes widened at the unknown man.

"Kimberly has a gift, Jarrod, and possesses the Spirit of the Crane," the man informed him with a proud smile. "What she does in the fight against you will not compare to what she will accomplish once this battle is over."

"Because of this power she possesses," Dai Shi sneered and the man smiled.

"No, because of who she is," the man said. "A woman of light who cannot be corrupted."

"Then where is she?" Camille demanded. "If she's so powerful, why did she die from the power of Rinsien?"

"Whoever said she died?" the man asked, genuinely surprised. "She is merely…displaced."

* * *

"Okay, how did I get here?" Kimberly asked, picking herself up from the floor of the rebuilt Command Center. The last thing she remembered was trying, futilely, to shield herself from the monster's blast of power.

"Welcome," a familiar voice said. Kimberly froze, unable to move. "Do not be afraid, Kimberly."

Slowly, deliberately, Kimberly turned around. When she saw who had spoken, she, in a time-honored, Kimberly tradition, fainted.

* * *

"Tadpole!"

Adam's eyes snapped open, looking around. Finally, he spotted Jadespring, his animal spirit, sitting across from him. Around them were meditation candles. Adam, who had grown used to the animal spirit's tendency to join him in meditation, straightened at Jadespring's slightly panicked look. And he'd definitely been spending too much time with Jadespring when he could tell the frog's feelings from his expressions.

"What is it?" he asked. Jadespring swallowed and morphed into his black ninjetti form which just so happened to be identical to Adam when he was in his ninjetti garb.

"Kimberly is currently in need of your assistance, tadpole," he told him. Adam's eyes widened before they narrowed.

"She was caught, wasn't she?" he asked and Jadespring nodded.

"Yes, she was, but not before she learned a few things," he agreed and then scowled. "Though Skysong won't tell me what those things are."

"How can I help?" Adam asked, ignoring the sullen expression on the frog's face. While he and Kimberly were best friends and hopefully more, Jadespring and Skysong could barely stand each other. They constantly bickered, which was one of the reasons the two rangers had refused to allow the spirits near them when they were together.

"You must go to her, tadpole," Jadespring said, looking worried. "You must go to her and guide her out."

"Out of what?" Adam asked, confused.

"The Morphing Grid."

* * *

"Kimberly, wake up."

Kimberly's eyes fluttered open as she gazed up at the man smiling down at her. "Am I dreaming?" she whispered, pain in her eyes. Zordon of Eltar's eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"No, child, you are not dreaming," he replied, helping her to sit up.

"But I don't understand…," she said as she stared at him. He chuckled.

"When Guardian's die, their spirits come here, to the Morphing Grid," he told her. "We become part of the Grid."

"So I'm…dead?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No, you're not dead," he informed her with a smile. "Something happened and using your Guardian powers, you teleported yourself to the one place you knew in your heart was safe."

"The Grid?" she asked and he nodded.

"Even after Zedd drained your powers, the safest place you ever knew was within the confines of the Power, was it not?" he asked and she nodded. "So, you teleported yourself inside the power."

"But how come it looks like the Command Center?" she asked. "The Jungle Fury grid is a jungle clearing."

"True," he agreed. "But while you are the Jungle Fury Guardian, you feel safer with your old powers. It also helps that this is where I live now, inside this facsimile of our old home."

"You guided me here," she realized and he nodded.

"I may be dead, but I still have my tricks," he replied with a grin. Suddenly and without even a hint of a warning, she threw herself into his arms. Smiling, he hugged her back.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this, Zordon," she cried into his chest. He chuckled.

"I as well, my Crane," he whispered into her hair, tears in his eyes. "You, out of all my rangers, were my most cherished, the one I most saw as my daughter."

"You were always the father I needed when he wasn't around," she cried, her voice muffled. "I miss you so much."

"You've done so well, Kimberly," he whispered. "Grown into the kind of woman any man would be proud to call his daughter."

Kimberly cried harder. Out of all the rangers, she was one of the few who had never honestly dealt with Zordon's death. On the outside, she appeared to have come to terms with it, but Jason, Tommy, and Adam all knew this was a lie. Zordon had taken her father's place during high school and she had done everything to make him proud. The other rangers all knew that while she was a ranger because it was the right thing to do, she continued fighting, growing, because of Zordon. While she really _had_ wanted to go to Florida, it was Zordon's pride and belief in her that truly made her go. As far as Kimberly was concerned, if Zordon thought she could do it, then she could.

"Let us get caught up, shall we?" Zordon suggested when her tears finally subsided. "You can tell me all the stories I haven't seen or heard about while watching over you all."

Kimberly laughed soggily. "What about getting out though?" she asked, looking up but not moving from his embrace. "The rangers are gonna need me."

"Because you are in the grid, body and all, you do not have a physical tie to the mortal world, Kimberly," Zordon informed her. "I have sent for someone to lead you out but it may take him some time to figure out how to get here."

Kim nodded, reluctantly moving away and wiping at her eyes. "Who did you send for?" she asked, her voice rough from crying. Zordon's eyes twinkled down at her.

"Adam, of course."


	23. CH 23: Brave Face

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **I guess I wasn't clear enough about the guy with Mao in the last chapter. That was supposed to be Zordon. :D

* * *

"I don't understand, why can't we just teleport her out like you and Hartford did Alpha?" Tommy asked. After Jadespring had told him what had happened, Adam had called Tommy only to find out he had had a visit from Swiftwing and Billy had been contacted by Fleetfoot.

"Because, falcon, she is currently in the innermost area of the grid," Jadespring explained. "The Heart of the Grid, to be precise."

"So teleporting inside the Heart isn't possible?" Tommy asked and Billy shook his head.

"Only Guardians can get into the Heart of the Grid, Tommy," he explained. Taking in the blank expressions he was getting, he sighed. "Let me explain. The grid has different levels. Each level has the subspace areas for each team, but the deeper you go, the more power there is."

"So the Super-Dino Mode was another level inside the grid?" Hayley asked and Billy nodded.

"When you were in regular morph, you were in the outermost level of the Grid subspace for Dino Thunder," he agreed and was amused to see Hayley making notes. "When you five upped to Super Dino Mode, this was the next highest level."

"What about when Reds get Battilizers?" Hayley asked, intrigued.

Billy grinned. "Battilizers are from the third level, which explains why they're more powerful than the team power ups," he explained. He glanced at Tommy. "Conner had more power ups than any other red and got the closest to the heart without being a Guardian."

"He's probably going to end up a Guardian, then, isn't he?" Tommy asked and Billy smiled.

"I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he does, no," he agreed and Tommy sighed. Hayley simply smirked.

"So how do I get in?" Adam broke in. Normally, all the shop talk would intrigue him but Kimberly needed help; he didn't want to wait.

"Astral projection," Billy told him, not even blinking at the impatience in Adam's voice. "You can't physically go in without getting stuck."

"Which is what happened with Kim?" Tommy asked and Jadespring nodded.

"Kimberly teleported herself, body and all, into the Heart," he agreed. "Dai Shi was attempting to turn her against the Jungle Fury Rangers."

"So she went undercover, pretending to be evil, only to almost accidentally get turned evil for real in the process?" Tommy asked, amused. Jadespring nodded and Billy and Hayley snickered.

"I'm going in," Adam interrupted, looking determined. All amusement left the other two rangers as they exchanged looks. "You guys can keep my body grounded here, and I'll project myself there and get her out."

"That, actually, could work," Billy replied thoughtfully. "Though I'd suggest getting Rocky or Aisha for further help in keeping you grounded."

Tommy nodded. "Three or four is more powerful than just two," he agreed. Billy and Tommy moved to help Adam set up the candles while Hayley called the other two Ninjetti. In twin flashes of red/blue and yellow, they appeared.

Once they'd been brought up to date, the four rangers sat down in front of the four colored candles that represented four of the five elements. Adam, Billy, Tommy, and Jason had all spent many hours with Rita, Zedd, Daggeron, Leanbow, and Udonna learning about magic once they discovered they could harness it as Guardians. One of the biggest things they'd learned was the intense power behind the five elements. Tommy and Billy had agreed the extra boost would help.

Rocky was fire; passionate, energetic, and dangerous when provoked. Billy was water; typically calm, easy going, and gentle, he could be riled up to dangerous levels without warning. Aisha was earth; solid, reliable, and deadly with the right incentive. And Tommy was air; he flew through life as if obstacles did not exist. The right conditions could make him very dangerous, but getting him truly angry was hard to do. Inside the circle was Adam, representing the final element; spirit. Since it was his spirit that would be going inside the Heart of the Grid, they felt he probably didn't need an element candle.

"Ready?" Tommy asked and the other four nodded. One by one, they changed into ninjetti and closed there eyes. Inside, Adam began glowing black before, abruptly, his body collapsed. Billy shook his head to keep any one from moving. Without a spirit to sustain it, the human body could not function.

Adam was on his way to Kimberly.

* * *

"I daresay Tommy regrets much of what he did in high school now," Zordon said, wiping tears from his eyes. Kim had just finished regaling Zordon with what happened when Tommy finally figured out Principal Randall was Elsa. They were sitting in the middle of the Command Center, facing each other.

"You have no idea," Kim giggled. "He tried getting Conner to stop calling him dude but Conner usually ignores him, especially after Rocky pointed out Tommy used to say that all the time too."

Zordon chuckled. "Sounds like Rocky," he agreed. "Tommy wasn't happy I take it?"

"Oh, no, not even close," Kim replied. "He kept glaring at Rocky for the rest of the evening."

"And what about you, my dear," Zordon asked, gentle humor on his face. Kim blinked at him, confused. "We've spoken about all of the others, including how Karone took over for Kendrix which led to your chatting about how smart pinks have strengthened pinks reputations but we've talked very little of _your_ accomplishments."

"I…I won a couple medals at the PG games and the Olympics but you knew that," she started, looking uncomfortable. "I opened up a gym and am in the process of opening up a new one in Oceans Bluff."

"Yes, yes, I know all of that," he said, staring her straight in the eyes. "I want to know how you're handling being a mentor."

"I…don't know," she finally confessed, biting her lip.

"How do you like your rangers?" he asked and Kim's eyes lit up.

"I adore those kids!" she exclaimed, smiling. "All of them are different and bring different thing but all of them are just…they're great cubs."

"Any concerns?" he asked gently. Kim paused, looking uncomfortable. "Kimberly?"

"I don't know how to work with Lily or Theo," she blurted out. "I can work great with Casey, he and I have a really close friendship and Dom and I found common ground in teasing RJ and Fran in the books but I don't know how to deal with Lily or Theo."

"What do you mean?" he asked. Kim stood up and began pacing.

"Lily isn't like me and she isn't like Fran. Lily is just…she's highly independent and really caring and motherly but for some reason I haven't been able to form the same friendship with her as I have with Casey or Fran," she said. "I know why I shouldn't do it, but I favor Casey and Fran over Theo, Lily, and Dom. I know that, RJ knows that, hell, even Tommy knows that!

"Theo is great but he's like a very odd and eclectic mix between Billy, Rocky, and my uptight English cousin Wesley. Well, before Wes got half disowned and turned into a human being. Anyway, Theo has brother issues which I sooooo get but at the same time his issues are way different. I mean, all of my friends knew I had daddy issues but Lily doesn't even know Theo's a freakin twin!

"And then there's my friendship with Casey and Dom. Casey is another younger brother, easily. He's just…we instantly clicked. When I was sick after RJ got his morpher, he was constantly by my side, according to RJ. And Dom, despite us getting off on the wrong foot, is a great guy. He really proved himself lately, especially when my alter-ego got sucked here.

"And, of course, there's RJ but the only issues we have are the standard older sister, younger brother variety. But the fact is, for some reason, I can't seem to get as close to Lily and Theo the same way I can with Casey and Dom and I don't know why!"

Kim breathed deeply as she faced the empty energy tube. She hadn't realized before how much that had bugged her. A soft hand on her shoulder calmed her down.

"Maybe you're not supposed to," Zordon suggested, his voice quiet. Kim frowned and turned to look up at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. Zordon smiled.

"Being a mentor is a funny thing," he said, moving to lean against the consol. "No matter how much you try, you form closer bonds with some of your students than others. I did it, Tommy did it, even Adam did it when he was working with the Overdrive Rangers. Its part of who we are.

"But does that mean it's a bad thing? It depends. If you completely ignore the other students in favor of your favorites, than yes, it's bad. But you haven't done that. You still work with the others but you simply aren't as close to them as you are to Casey or Dominic.

"And it's possible that Casey and Dom need you more than Theo and Lily do. From what I've seen when I looked in on you, Casey needs someone who isn't use to the Pua Zhua. He's new to it, just like you. And he, and Dom, are alone out of the group. Lily and Theo had each other and RJ and Fran have been close for years as well. Dom, while he was good friends with RJ, has only recently returned. And Casey had no one at the Monastery before becoming a Ranger. Therefore, it stands to reason you three would gravitate to each other.

"This also explains why Theo and Lily aren't as close to you as they are to each other or to RJ. They've been students for quite some time and know more about Pua Zhua than you or Casey or Fran. From what I see, they bonded with RJ more than you which is okay and even expected. You can't be best friends with everyone Kimberly," he finished.

"But I want to be," Kim muttered with a pout. Zordon chuckled.

"It's not a bad thing you can't seem to connect with Theo or Lily. What matters is that you make it clear that you do care. I've seen many teams torn apart due to favoritism but I don't think you'll have that problem," Zordon told her. "You and RJ have done an admirable job in mentoring your students and though you never talked about it, you came up with a system that works for you."

"Whats that system?" Kim asked. "Cause I'm drawing a blank."

"RJ does indeed deal with Pua Zhua training, but you are the shoulder they cry on, the one they go to when they have an attack of fear or moral dilemma. That is a credit to who you are, Kimberly," he told her. Kim smiled.

"Just like you were for me," she whispered and he chuckled.

"Yes, my dear," he agreed. "Just like I was for you."

* * *

"Okay, where am I?" Adam asked, looking around. Suddenly, he recognized it as the place they had sent Alpha during his return to rangering the year before. He sighed.

"Great, wrong subspace."


	24. CH 24: If I Forget

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **The song is "If I Forget" by Delta Goodrem.

* * *

Adam sighed, looking around. It hadn't really changed, though it was less….energized. He figured that was due to the rangers being inactive. Finally, he found what he assumed was a door. He swallowed, praying this worked, and opened it. On the other side was a green energy. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through.

* * *

"You sure you can't stay longer?" Theo asked his brother. "I'd like you to meet Kim."

"Kim?" Luan asked curiously and Theo smiled.

"She's our other Mentor, but she's not Pua Zhua," he replied. He paused. "Actually, she's RJ's sister."

"Where is she now?" Luan asked curiously. Theo winced.

"She kinda got kidnapped and turned evil," he admitted. At Luan's incredulous expression, Theo hurried on. "But RJ says she'll be back to herself in no time!"

"Uh huh," he murmured, looking skeptical.

"She wasn't evil," a voice said and the brothers turned to find Jason entering the Loft with RJ, Casey, Fran, Dom, and Lily right behind him.

Casey frowned. "I saw her with Dai Shi though," he argued. "She was all…Dai Shi-ized."

Jason paused, looking at Casey for a minute before he chuckled. "You have definitely spent too much time with Kimberly," he said. RJ nodded his agreement.

"You're starting to talk like her," the wolf master told his student. Casey rolled his eyes.

"Point is, according to what Adam told Tommy and Billy, Kim went undercover," Jason told them.

"She went WHAT?!" RJ yelped, looking horrified. Jason nodded.

"I agree," he said. "She didn't tell you guys cause she wanted your reactions to be authentic."

"I'm gonna kill her," RJ muttered darkly, Casey nodding his agreement.

"She told Adam though?" Fran asked sympathetically and Jason nodded, his mouth in a wry smile.

"She made her choice," he said. "Anyway, she told Adam you guys needed to know what was going on and since you don't have a handy dandy fly on the wall she…what?"

At the 'fly on the wall' comment, RJ, Casey, Theo, Lily, and Fran began laughing. Dom and Luan just shrugged. Jason finally just shook his head. "Anyway, she decided to get herself kidnapped and hope Dai Shi would follow in the tradition of the villains she had faced and try to turn her against you. Obviously, he went with the tradition."

"How do we know it didn't work though?" Dom asked. "She may be evil for real."

Jason shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Guardians cannot be corrupted by evil," he told him. "According to Tommy, that was the only good thing about being a Guardian as far as he was concerned."

RJ and Casey chuckled; they'd both heard about the original rangers' penchant for getting turned against his friends.

"Not only that, but Jadespring, Adam's spirit, told him that Kim had succeeded but was caught," he said. The rangers and civilians all straightened, even Luan. Absently amused by that, Jason continued. "Apparently, Dai Shi was planning on using the power he used to turn your masters against you on Kim. In order to avoid that, Kim teleported herself into the Heart of the Grid. Adam's going in to get her back."

"Why can't she just teleport herself back out?" Theo asked curiously. Jason smiled wryly.

"She's physically in the Heart and has no connection to the Mortal realm; without that connection, she can't leave the Grid," he explained.

"So she should be back soon?" RJ asked and Jason nodded.

"It'll depend on what Adam has to go through to get to her," he agreed. "But yes, she'll be back soon."

* * *

"Zordon, can I ask you something?" Kim asked.

"Certainly," he replied, smiling at her. Kim smiled back before biting her lip.

"Did you laugh at Tommy and I when we became mentors?"

The question, asked with a grin, surprised a laugh out of him. "I"ll admit it did amuse me, yes," he answered with a smile. Kim smirked.

"Thought so."

* * *

"I really don't like this place," Adam muttered as he stared around. He was standing in the Temple of Maligore, the fire burning merrily in the pit. "Why is _this _a subspace?"

He sighed when no one entered. "Great, no one's around. I should have known." He peered at the various exists. He'd come in through the entrance they had when they'd gone to save Kim, Jason, and the Liarians. The other entrance was across the pit. With a sigh, he walked around the lava pit and gingerly entered. Another energy wall stood at the end. Rolling his eyes, he walked through.

* * *

"I'm going to kill Kim," RJ murmured to himself as he and Lily worked in the kitchen.

"Right there with you, big brother," the yellow ranger replied without thought. Once she realized what she had said, Lily froze, her eyes wide. RJ blinked at his cub, looking startled.

"Big brother?" he asked and Lily shifted uncomfortably.

"Well…yeah," she finally answered. "You and Kim are our siblings, our big brother and big sister. Theo feels the same way."

"I didn't know that," RJ said, grabbing some dough. Lily shrugged.

"It's not too surprising if you think about it," she told him, going back to chopping onions. "I mean, Casey has even said Kim's his big sister and you're the big brother I never wanted."

RJ chuckled at her teasing tone. "Casey sees me as a brother?" he asked and Lily paused.

"Actually, I'm not sure how he feels about you," she confessed. "I know Fran, Theo, and Dom think of you as a brother but Casey's never said anything like that."

"Any idea why?" he asked and Lily shrugged.

"I don't know," she replied. "But he has decided that we're family, all of us. I think he's still trying to figure out what kind of family you are still."

"So you and Theo are family?" RJ asked, changing the subject. The yellow ranger blushed.

"Not exactly…" she murmured. RJ smiled.

"Kim and I tried avoiding talking about this but I think you two should at least try," he told her. Her blush deepened as he continued. "Having regrets is the worse thing about getting older so try not to. Have regrets, I mean."

"Maybe," she murmured and RJ smiled. From the other side of the kitchen doorway, Dom looked down before glancing over at Fran.

"No regrets," he murmured.

* * *

"So you chose Adam?" Zordon asked and Kim nodded.

"Yeah, I did," she replied, blushing. Zordon chuckled.

"The Crane and the Frog," he murmured. Kim smirked.

"Yeah, I know," she agreed.

"I think he'd be good for you," he told her with a smile.

"So you approve?" she asked hopefully and he tilted his head.

"Does my approval mean that much to you?" he asked gently and she nodded, looking down.

"I'm talking with my dad now and we're working on it, but there's still this really big rift between us," she admitted. "You were kinda the one who took his place in my heart during high school."

"Yes, Kimberly, I approve of Adam," he told her seriously and her eyes lit up. "But I think you need to lay everything on the table with your father once you get out of here."

* * *

"I'm going backwards," Adam realized, looking around the Power Chamber. The uniforms in glass caught his eye and he smiled at the pink and black uniforms. Shaking away the memories, he moved to the entrance. The doors opened to reveal a black wall of energy instead of green.

"That's different," he said, moving forward. Stepping through the wall, he hoped he would find Kim soon. He was getting tired.

* * *

"Hey Casey," Fran greeted the red ranger. Casey looked up at her from where he was sitting on Kim's bed. "Everyone's worried about you."

"I'm okay," he said, picking at the pink pillow. "I just miss Kim."

Fran smiled softly and moved to sit across from him. "I miss her too," she told him. "She's like the big sister I always wanted."

"All my sister's are younger," Casey told her, his voice soft. "It's been nice to have a big one to look out for me instead of the other way around."

"I miss her too," Dom said from the doorway. He stepped inside and closed the door. Fran smiled at him and he smiled back. "I never had a sister before her."

"Kim's great that way, isn't she?" Casey asked as Dom moved over to the desk and began looking through the CD's.

"She really is," Fran agreed. The three were silent before Dom tilted his head and pulled a CD out.

"Hey, look at this," he said, handing the CD to Casey. On it was the words "If I Forget" and a date.

"This was the day before she went undercover," Casey said, frowning at the title. He opened the case and put the CD in the player by the bed.

"If I Forget, take one," Kim's voice said. As the first lyrics came out, Casey, Fran, and Dom all smiled.

"_You're a million miles away,  
Your voice, it speaks so painfully,  
The path is never easy,  
You gotta do what you've gotta do, I know,  
In life we have to compromise,  
The chaos of our choices,  
And through every endeavor,  
I think of us forever,  
So remember.  
_

"_If I forget to say I love you,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
If I forget to say I miss you,  
It doesn't mean that I,  
It doesn't mean that I don't._

_"__So much pressure haunts you now,  
Tell me we can climb this too,  
AND Don't give up ON what we have,  
Cause I don't wanna live my life,  
Without you,  
Without you._

_"__If I forget to say I love you,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
If I forget to say I miss you,  
It doesn't mean that I,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
It doesn't mean that I don't.  
_  
_"__If I forget to say I love you,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
If I forget to say I miss you,  
It doesn't mean that I,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
It doesn't mean that I don't,  
It doesn't mean that I don't_

* * *

"Good job," Zordon said as they looked on the three students listening to Kim's song. Kimberly smiled, feeling happy she'd been able to push Dom's thoughts to look at her CD's. Zordon had offered to show her what her students were up to when Kim had expressed worry over them. Kim smiled.

"I love those kids."

"They miss you," a familiar voice said from the doorway. Kim twirled around to find Adam standing there, a small smile on his face as he looked between Kim and Zordon. Zordon's eyes twinkled as Kim dashed forward and into the Frog's arms.

"You're finally here," she murmured into his chest as his arms came up around her. He nodded, eyes still on Zordon.

"Yeah, took me a while," he agreed. "I had to go though a couple subspaces to get here," he told her.

"Ahhh, yes, I apologize, I should have been more attentive to when you would arrive," Zordon said apologetically. Adam gently disentangled himself from Kim to walk up and hug the old man. Kim smiled as Zordon chuckled and hugged the man back.

"I figured you'd be here," Adam said once he stepped back. "Alpha told me some things about the Grid that never made it to books and I knew you'd probably be here."

"Its good to see you, Adam," Zordon said, smiling. Adam smiled back, tears in his eyes. Zordon looked up, a pleased expression on his face.

"You should go," he said. "The Shark Rangers has been broken from the power of Rinsien."

"That was quick," Adam commented. "I just got into the grid."

"Time moves differently here," Zordon told him. "Even the scene we just saw was a day ago."

Kim stared at them a few minutes before sighing. "I don't want to leave."

"Kim…?" Adam asked, worried and confused.

"Kimberly, you must," Zordon told her knowingly. "You must live for me."

Kim swallowed. "That's not fair," she whispered and he sighed. He stepped forward and hugged her.

"I will always be with you, my Pterodactyl," he murmured. "And come visit once you've finished your battle."

"I can do that?" she asked, leaning back to stare at him. He nodded, his eyes twinkling.

"Nothing is impossible for a Guardian."


	25. CH 25:

**Author:** Jadelyn Tate

**Story:** Begotten

**Characters:** RJ, Kim

**Disclaimer:** I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.

**Summery:** A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.

**Author Notes: **Hee.

* * *

"Oooh, I don't feel so good," Kimberly muttered from where she was laying next to Adam. Ignoring the exclamations of shock around her, she gingerly looked over and smiled at the amused expression on Adam's face.

"By the way, thank you for getting me," she whispered, pecking his lips quickly. Adam's face turned red and Kim's eyes crinkled. Looking up, she smiled at the amused looking Tommy.

"Hey Falcon, help a fellow bird up?" she asked. Tommy chuckled but obligingly hauled her to her feet and then helped her to a seat when she wobbled.

"Remind me not to do that for a while," Kim murmured as she gingerly sat down in the chair by the supercomputer. Looking around, she wasn't surprised to see she was in the Dino Lab; they almost always conducted ranger business down here since it was easier to get to than the still demolished Power Chamber.

"Here," Hayley said gently, handing Kimberly a water bottle. The pink ranger shot her a grin of thanks and chugged down the liquid. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was till Hayley had offered the drink.

"Feel better?" the tech asked amusedly and Kim grinned as she nodded.

"Still wobbly but that should pass soon, I hope," she murmured and the redhead nodded. Kim turned to Tommy, Rocky, Aisha, and Billy. "What'd we miss?"

"Evil rangers are attacking RJ and kids," Tommy immediately answered. He smirked slightly. "I think one of them is your dad."

Kim blinked as that news settled in. "My dad's evil?" she asked. "Will the irony never end?"

"Not exactly," Jason said, amused, as he walked into the Lab. Nearby, Adam tensed slightly as he leaned against Rocky and Aisha. Kim raised an eyebrow but ignored the green and black ranger.

"Splainy?" she asked her oldest friend and Jason smirked.

"From what Rage told me, Dai Shi is controlling them and using their spirits to create Spirit rangers out of the three Masters," he told her. "The kids are currently battling the Bat and Elephant Rangers; I don't know what happened to the Shark."

"Zordon said the Shark Ranger had been freed from the power of Rinsien," Adam remembered. Kim frowned even as the others exchanged stunned looks.

"Yeah, but he didn't seem very happy about that," she pointed out. "I think something else is up."

"Wait, wait, wait," Rocky said, looking rattled. "Did you say _Zordon_ told you this?"

Adam and Kim exchanged slightly guilty looks. "Adam can explain," Kim finally decided, looking at her pole-axed friends. "I need to go do the mentor thing and beg forgiveness for going Charlie's Angel on them."

Grinning at them all, she quickly blew Adam a kiss before bending her head down and disappearing in a flash of pink.

* * *

"Rage!" Kim shouted, hurrying into their father's beach house. Finn and RJ separated from their enthusiastic hug to stare at her. After a minute, Rage shook off his surprise and lung forward to hug his sister.

"Oof!" Kim muttered as she staggered back under her brother's assault. "Rage, I love you, but you can let go anytime."

"Sorry," he apologized, releasing her. Without warning, Finn swooped down and engulfed her in his arms. Kim froze, unused to being hugged by the man.

"I thought you had been killed," he whispered into her hair. Kim, still frozen, was unable to reply. Finally reassured she was okay, Finn let her go and stepped back. The pink ranger studiously avoided looking at her brother but she knew he was smiling.

"What happened?" she finally asked, looking up at the ceiling. She frowned a bit at all the white dots before realizing they represented stars.

"I ordered the kids to possibly kill dad," RJ told her, his voice amused. That snapped Kim out of her thoughts and she gaped at her smiling father and brother.

"Huh?"

RJ smirked slightly. "Then he got stuck in the crystal eye but I got him out cause he captured the star light" he added. Kim continued to gape.

"He took a chance and it worked out for the best," Finn added, looking decidedly amused at her reaction. Kim finally seemed to snap out of it.

"Let me get this straight," she said, staring at the men. "You ordered the kids, _our_ kids, to kill dad and then he got stuck in a glass eye and you freed him using starlight he captured?"

"Crystal eye," RJ corrected her. "But yes, that's about right."

Kim stared at the two masters a minute before throwing her hands in the air. "I can't leave you alone for a **MINUTE**!" she yelled accusingly. RJ simply smirked. A sudden beeping caught their attention.

"RJ! We're taking a beating here!" Casey yelled out. The three masters all looked at each other before RJ frowned.

"I'm on my way," he said into his morpher before making to leave.

"RJ!" Finn said, moving to stop him. Kim crossed her arms, suspecting she knew what her father's idea was going to be.

"The only way to save your friends is to rescue the other masters," he told his son. "You and I can do that, we know the way to the temple."

"Hey!" Kim yelped, moving to standing by RJ's side. "_We_ will go to the temple, not just you two," she informed him. Finn looked ready to argue but Kim glared at him. "I spent three days there with almost full free reign of the grounds," she pointed out. "Do you remember how to get to the dungeon once you're actually inside cause I do."

"Kim's right," RJ agreed, looking at their father. "She can help us navigate once we're inside."

"Consider it our first family bonding trip," Kim said with a small grin. Finn rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement to the plan. With a smirk, RJ took off, Kim hot on his heals. Finn just sighed as he moved after them.

"Kids."

* * *

Getting past the Rinshi had been crazily easy, as had getting to the dungeons. As RJ bust down the door to where Swoop and Phant were and the three rushed in, Kim couldn't help wondering when the other shoe would drop. Shaking away the thought, she moved with her father, calling forth Lily's Bo using her guardian powers.

Even as she jabbed and twirled the weapon in her hands, Kim couldn't help but notice how seamlessly she and her father worked together. Sweeping the Rinshi to the floor, she instinctively ducked as Finn swung his swords across the chest of two Rinshi's behind her. Sensing her brother release the other Masters, Kim finished with the Rinshi she was fighting and moved to help her father support Swoop. The Bat Master looked startled the moment her hand touched him.

"Wing?" he asked, surprised and Kim smiled.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily, ya old Bat," she quipped and her father chuckled.

"Let's get out of here," Swoop said, ignoring the comment.

"The Five Pua Zhua Masters," Dai Shi said, stalking in as they moved to leave. The five adults all froze. "You're not so mighty now."

"Dai Shi," Finn started. "If you could, you would destroy as you blow out a candle."

"Don't give him ideas," Kim muttered under her breath. If he heard her comment, Finn ignored it.

"But Jarrod's Black Lion spirit cannot be crushed!" Finn finished fiercely.

"Jarrod is buried deep in my darkness," Dai Shi growled.

"Buried, maybe, but lost, never," Phant said. "His humanity's an antidote to your poison and someday Jarrod will cast you out!"

Kim barely had time to register the odd struggle in Dai Shi's eyes before he called on the power of Zukado and she and the four men went flying. Groaning, she struggled up. "I hate it when he does that," she grumbled quietly.

"Soon, your power will be mine, Crane, and nothing will defeat me," Dai Shi growled out. Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw RJ's expression go dark at the threat and no doubt the memory of his death match and before she could stop him, he lunged forward.

Kim struggled to her feet beside Swoop as RJ and Dai Shi fought. "I hate it when he goes big brother and avengy on me," she muttered darkly. Finn snorted but didn't say anything. When her brother landed at her feet, Kim and RJ called on the Wolf and Crane spirits to attack. The two animals attacked as one and within seconds the walls and ceiling were starting to cave in.

"Now would be a good time to book it, Rage!" Kim yelled, dragging her brother to his feet. The five adults took off, Kim dragging the semi-struggling wolf set on revenge. As they ran through the temple, Kim vowed to have a long talk about her brothers' need to kill Dai Shi once they were all safe. Or as safe as they could be, being mentor and ranger.

* * *

"With you gone, the beasts shall rule the world!" Unicron gloated.

"Hey!" RJ yelled, running up. "That's not gonna happen!"

"RJ!" the teens yelled out in relief.

"I've already beaten four rangers," Unicron shrugged and from she was hiding, Kim knew that was her and the spirit rangers cue. "One more is no challenge!"

"How's this for a challenge?" RJ asked as the three Spirit Rangers and Kimberly, using her alternate's morpher she had summoned, stepped up.

Kim smirked behind her helmet as the teens exclaimed in surprise. Next to her, she could just hear Phant chuckle as well.

"That's nothing," Camille said, moving to stand beside Unicron. ""Here's a challenge; RINSHI!"

Kim rolled her eyes when Camille transformed. "For the record, the fashion travesty is mine!" she hissed as the nine rangers stood in line.

"With the Strength of a Tiger, Jungle Fury Red Ranger!"

"With the Stealth of a Jaguar, Jungle Fury Blue Ranger!"

"With the Speed of a Cheetah, Jungle Fury Yellow Ranger!"

"With the Courage of a Wolf, Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger!"

"With the Power of a Rhino, Jungle Fury Rhino Ranger!"

"With the Agility of the Crane, Jungle Fury Crane Ranger!"

"With the Spirit of the Bat, Jungle Fury Bat Ranger!"

"With the Spirit of the Shark, Jungle Fury Shark Ranger!"

"With the Spirit of the Elephant, Jungle Fury Elephant Ranger!"

"We summon the animal spirits from within! Power Rangers, Jungle Fury!"

Kim grinned as the explosions sounded. This would be the only time she'd use this morpher unless she could help it and she planned on doing the best she could. She'd rather not go down that path much but she was feeling the need for a ranger fight after everything that had happened.

"Get them!" Camille screamed and the small army charged.

Ignoring everything else, Kim and RJ went after Camille. As RJ attacked her using his fists and knees, Kim calmly summoned her old bow. Once her brother was clear, she rushed forward, firing arrows before slashing with the sharpened edge as she ran past the chameleon. Camille flipped to the ground, groaning in pain as Kim left her brother to go help the three masters with Unicron.

The moment Phant had finished his attack, Kim went into her own. It was if all her powers had melded together for this one attack. Flying through the air, lightning flowed around her and fire sprang from the ground before she herself transformed into a dark pink crane covered in flames. Flowing through the Phantom warrior as her old firebird zord used to do, Kim could only smile as she and the other three Masters landed and posed as the monster exploded behind them.

* * *

Kim sighed as she placed the morpher back in the subspace pocket. While Swoop, her dad, and Phant had all decided to remain spirit rangers, she had told the stunned group that she was putting the morpher away. Despite their protests, Kim had stood firm and her father had, surprisingly, backed her up. While she would help as Guardian, she felt using the morpher again was wrong somehow, like it wasn't meant to be used by her. RJ believed it was because it _wasn't _meant to be used by her; it was, after all, her alternate's morpher. With that insight, the others had agreed to respect her decision. Casey had had the hardest time accepting it, and Kim knew he was still a bit miffed by her choice. She didn't blame him.

"Kimberly?"

Kim turned around at her father's voice, a look of surprise on her features. She figured he'd have left for his beach house by now.

"What's up?" she asked and was a little startled when he moved inside her bedroom and closed the door firmly behind him. His face set, he stared at her.

"I think it's time we talked."


End file.
